* .A 



.=:*•■ 



,.,^^' 

>* 

^ 






^-J^•' \-^ 






aV 



•-^■ 






^^j.. -^ : M. 






,0 



"^' 



■^^ ^ 



^v^^' 



^-'■%. 






V- .^v 



A' 



■^' 



^/o-*^,. o 






^ %. .# 









* V 



vn -r, 



sV '^ 



.^^ o.^' 



v*^-^. 



% * N 

I: ^(^'' 



\0<^^. 









/;^> 



?^/'*;^'.'\x^ 



'> <.<^ 



-^^' 



.0 = V:^' (P 






/ 







JOEL BARLOT\^. 




i^^ 



LIFE AND LETTERS 



OF 



JOEL BARLOW, LLD. 



POET, STATESMAN, PHILOSOPHER 



WITH EXTRACTS FROM HIS WORKS AND HITHERTO 
UNPUBLISHED POEMS 



BY 



CHARLES BURR TODD 



0u 



" The author of the Columhiad and the Hasty-Piiddmg was a man of might 
in his dayt and will not pass out of literature or history." — Stedman. 




NEW YORK & LONDON 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

1886 



FSros 



Copyright 

By G. p. Putnam's Sons 

1886 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The great men of the post-Revolutionary age were 
not, as a rule, versatile. Their development was largely 
in one direction — statesmanship. Jefferson, it is true, 
shone both as a statesman and philosopher; so did 
Franklin : but it would be difficult to carry the parallel 
farther. There was one, however, among this group of 
worthies who excelled in at least three great departments 
of human effort — in statesmanship, letters, and philos- 
ophy — and whose practical talents were perhaps greater 
than those of any of his cotemporaries. That man was 
Joel Barlow, the subject of these pages. His verse first 
gave American poetry a standing abroad. His prose 
writing contributed largely to the triumph of Republi- 
canism in 1800. He was the first American cosmopolite, 
and twice made use of his position to avert from his 
country a threatened foreign war. He was the god- 
father of the steamboat and canal, and sponsor with 
Jefferson of our present magnificent system of internal 
improvements, while had he been permitted to carry out 
his grand idea of a national university it is safe to say 
that American art, letters, science, and mechanics would 
now be on a much more advanced and satisfactory foot- 
ing. 

His biography has never been written. This is not 
strange, for it is only recently 4;hat the story of any of 
the great Republican leaders has been fairly and honestly 
told. In Barlow's case there were special difficulties in 
the way. He was cut off suddenly, in a foreign land, 
before what he rea'arded as his crowning: Avork was com- 



i V INTROD UCTOR Y NO TE. 

pleted. He left no children to gather up and preserve 
his literary remains, and after a short time material for a 
biography could be collected only after long and tire- 
some research ; then after it was collected, properly to 
present so many-sided a career involved grave literary 
difficulties. 

The writer admits that the present work is the fruit of 
his interest in his subject — an interest arising rather 
from propinquity than from any particular sympathy 
with the poet's political or religious views. 

Born and reared almost in sight of Barlow's birth-place, 
the writer early became interested in his history, and 
with the knowledge of so much that was really noble and 
useful in his career, came the desire to present it fairly 
and honestly to his countrymen. After he had been en- 
gaged on the work for several years, the death of Prof. 
Lemuel G. Olmsted, a grandnephew of the poet, placed 
at his disposal the vast mass of Barlow's literary remains, 
which that gentleman had accumulated by fifty years of 
painstaking labor. These letters and papers, after hav- 
ing been carefully sifted, have been freely used, and form 
the bulk of the volume. In preparing the work the aim 
of the writer has been to give details rather than gener- 
alizations ; to present his subject as he lived rather than 
ideally, and to this end he has told his story, wherever 
practicable, by the letters and writings of his subject. 

The author regrets that he cannot acknowledge all the 
favors received in the prosecution of his labors. He is 
especially indebted to the Astor Library ; to Professor F. 
B. Dexter, of Yale College ; to Miss Ada J. Todd, of the 
Bridgeport High-School, for the translation of the French 
letters, and to S. L. M. Barlow, Esq., of New York, the 
present owner of the Olmsted collection, by whom it 
was freely placed at the author's disposal, together with 
his own private collection of Barlowana. 

C. B. T. 

New York, Dece?nber, 1885. 



JOEL BARLOW. 



CHAPTER I. 

1754-1778. 



In Fairfield County, in south-western Connecticut, near 
the New York border, lies the quiet rural town of Red- 
ding, — a town founded by one of the most distinguished 
jurists of the Massachusetts Colony — John Read — and 
settled by the choicest of that "sifted wheat " for which, 
to the sowing of New England, three kingdoms were 
winnowed. The place is rich in all that could fashion or 
stimulate poetic fancy. 

It is situated on the lower slope of the beautiful hill- 
country of Connecticut. Its salient features are three 
great parallel ridges running north and south and sep- 
arated by deep valleys, the channels of watercourses. 
Westward, the tumbled masses of the Taghkanics, hill be- 
yond hill, rise from the deep valley of the Saugatuck. In 
summer, all the accessories of the pastoral — green fields, 
furrowed hills, thick wood, deep glen, and foaming cas- 
cades — were to be found here ; nor were historic scenes 
and points of interest wanting to lend them dignity. On 
the westernmost of these ridges, barely eight miles from 
the granite pillar separating New York from Connecticut, 
in along-roofed farmhouse, Joel Barlow was born. The 
Barlows were what is known in Connecticut as " good 
stock," that is, they were respectable landholders, paid 
their tithes promptly, and gave no one occasion to speak 

I 



2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ill of them. Samuel Barlow, the poet's father, was de- 
scended from John Barlow, of Fairfield, who first appears 
in that town about 1668. Samuel removed to Redding 
about 1740, and on the death of his first wife married, in 
1744, Esther, daughter of Nathaniel Hull, a member of a 
^ family which gave to the American navy one of its 
brightest ornaments. Her fourth son was Joel, the poet, 
born March 24, 1754. The boy owed his bias toward a 
liberal career, it is said, primarily, to an unconquerable 
passion for rhyming, which manifested itself while he was 
j among his books, and secondarily, to the Rev. Nathaniel 
Bartlett, pastor of the village church which his parents 
attended. Fully to make our meaning clear it will be 
necessary to notice briefly the state of society in his 
native town at this period ; this was highly oligarchical, as 
throughout New England at that time ; a few " first fam- 
ilies " were the ruling element in both church and state. 
Social privileges and distinctions were rigidly observed. 
The pews were " dignified," and assigned to families ac- 
cording to their tax-lists and social position — the patri- 
cians beneath the pulpit, the plebeians nearer the door; 
while the Burrs, Reeds, Sanfords, Hulls, Herons, and 
other first families exacted a homage from the common- 
alty the same in kind if not in degree with that paid the 
English squire by his dependents. The central figure in 
such a parish was the clergyman ; he was priest, teacher, 
oracle, monitor in manners and morals. Happy was it 
when the man was not dwarfed by the ofifice. In the 
case of Parson Bartlett this was not the case. Wise with 
such learning as the Yale College of that day could fur- 
nish, eloquent, unaffectedly and simply pious, possessed 
of rare tact, he presided over the church in Redding for 
fifty years, including the stormy days of the Revolution, 
with such dignity and moderation that no breath of 
calumny or whisper of complaint arose, and he only 
yielded up his trust at the command of death. To his 
parochial duties the clergyman added those of the ped- 



JOEL BARLOW. o 

agogue, maintaining a " select school," which attained a 
high degree of excellence, insomuch that it secured a for- 
eign constituency. Parson Bartlett, like most educated 
men of his day, was ardently looking forward to the advent 
of a national poet, and certain pencilHngs of verse by the 
lad which fell into his hands awakened in his breast the 
liveliest interest in their author. He at once declared 
that the boy's talent should be fostered and stimulated 
by a liberal'training and contact with other minds. The 
parents interposed no objection — in such a case the min- 
ister's word was law — and the lad was soon conning his 
Alphas, Betas, Kappas, under the direction of Parson 
Bartlett himself. His progress seems to have been 
rapid, for in a year's time his preceptor declared he could 
take him no farther, and began looking for a school in 
which he might be fitted for matriculation. 

There was at this time a school at Hanover, N. H., re- 
cently instituted on a charity foundation, chiefly to train 
young men for the ministry, or as missionaries to the 
Indians, and here the lad was placed, no doubt because 
of the leanness of his father's purse. Boys educated at 
this school generally matriculated at Dartmouth College, 
and at the Commencement of 1774 we find Barlow en- 
rolled in the freshman class of that institution. The 
death of his father, soon after, placed quite a little patri- 
mony at his disposal, and he determined to avail himself 
of the superior advantages of Yale. These, judged by 
modern standards, were ridiculously small. Two small 
buildings and a chapel were all that the pretty campus 
could then boast. The college butler was still an institu- 
tion, and the students were still gathered in the Com- 
mons Hall, under the eye of tutors. A few young mem- 
bers of the faculty, by strenuous efforts, had just succeeded 
in admitting English composition and oratory to a cur- 
riculum which had before embraced only the dead lan- 
guages, mathematics, philosophy, and polemic divinity. 
Poetry, belles-lettres, and the modern languages were 



4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

largely ignored, the commencement poem having only- 
come in with the graduation of such favorites of the 
Muse as Trumbull and Dwight. To offset this, however, 
there was Dr. Daggett at the head of affairs, and such men 
among the professors and tutors as Timothy Dwight, 
Abraham Baldwin, and Joseph Buckminster. The latter 
was the young poet's favorite, and, as we shall have oc- 
casion to note, exerted a greater influence over his mind 
than the remainder of the faculty combined. The class 
which he entered, that of 1778, was remarkable for the 
cahbre of its members. It is evident that he who ex- 
celled in mental rivalry with Oliver Wolcott, Noah 
Webster, Zephaniah Swift, Uriah Tracy, and Josiah 
Meigs possessed undoubted talent, and the necessary 
application to bring it into play. 

Of the poet's college course, though covering a preg- 
nant and exciting period, we have only meagre details. 
The i^merican Revolution opened during his first year 
in the cloisters, yet of the many letters that must have 
been written to his friends from college we have but one 
containing any reference to this subject. July 6, 1775, 
he wrote his mother, " The students are sensibly affected 
with the unhappy situation of public affairs, which is a 
great hinderance to their studies, and for that reason there 
has been talk of dismissing college ; but whether they 
will is uncertain." The college was not dismissed, how- 
ever, except for a brief period in 1777, when the pupils 
were scattered, the junior class (Barlow's) being sent to 
Glastonbury, Conn., in charge of tutor Buckminster, but 
in deference to the unhappy condition of the country 
no public commencement was held during the war. Bar- 
low himself did not enter the army, although four of his 
brothers did, one dying in the service, and another, 
Aaron, rising to the rank of colonel ; but during the long 
summer vacations he more than once joined his brothers 
in the field, and twice at least saw active service — once in 
the sharp engagement at Long Island, and again at 



JOEL BARLOW. 



5 



White Plains. This period was one of almost as great 
activity in the affairs of the college as of the country : 
the transition from the narrow, pedantic training of the 
old regime to the broader, fuller curriculum of Trumbull 
and D wight was being effected, and it is evident, from 
the nature of the poet, that he must have taken a deep 
interest in the success of the innovations. Two other 
traits of character marked this period in his career — ^a 
deep devotion -to the Muses, and a fitting appreciation 
of the charms of the lovely young women whose beauty 
illumined the somewhat sombre atmosphere of the little 
university town. Scraps of the poetry written at this 
time were collected and sacredly preserved by Mrs. Bar- 
low after their marriage, and remain to pleasantly indicate 
these efforts of budding genius. There were amorous 
epistles in verse, sentimental addresses in the Coryn and 
Phyllis style, scraps of song and madrigal.* 

One of these ladies had the honor of ensnaring the 
poet's heart, insomuch that they were engaged to be 
married before his college career ended. Her name was 
Ruth Baldwin. She was not so high in worldly station 
as the poet might fairly have aspired to : it was whis- 
pered over more than one tea-table, that the President's 



* Some of these were melodious, though manifest imitations— the follow- 
ing, for instance, " To a Young Lady " : 

" Go, Rose, my Chloe's bosom grace ! 
How happy should I prove, 
Might I supply that envied place 

With never fading love ; 
There, Phoenix-like, beneath her eye, 
Involved in fragrance, burn and die. 

" Know, hapless flower, that thou shalt find 

More fragrant roses there ; 
I see thy withering head reclined 

With envy and despair : 
One common fate we both must prove— 
You die with envy, I with love." 



6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

daughter had set her cap for him. Michael Baldwin, her 
father, had begun life as the village blacksmith in Guil- 
ford, and a few years before had removed to New Haven 
with two objects in view — the enlargement of his busi- 
ness, and the education of his children. The family was, 
however, a remarkably intellectual one. There were 
three sons — Abraham, Dudley, and Henry — and three 
daughters — Ruth, Clara, and Lucy. All three of the 
sons graduated at Yale College and became eminent. 
Abraham was a man of undoubted talent, and in the 
hands of a republican purveyor of history would have fig- 
ured as one of the leading characters of his day. He 
filled the office of Senator from Georgia for several 
terms with great ability. He aided Milledge in founding 
Georgia University and drew up its charter, and the task 
of drafting the famous Constitution of 1787 was com- 
mitted to him, his success in that work earning him the 
soubriquet of " the Father of the Constitution." Dudley 
studied law and settled at Greenfield, Conn,, and acquired 
great reputation as a lawyer. Henry also studied law, set- 
tled in Pittsburg, and became an associate justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States. Ruth to great per- 
sonal beauty added a piquancy of manner and amiability 
of character that afterward made her an object of adoration 
in the polite circles of Europe. She inspired in the poet's 
breast a remarkable passion, one that survived all the mu- 
tations of a most adventurous career, and glowed as fer- 
vently at fifty as at twenty-five. The elder brother of this 
lady, Abraham Baldwin, was a tutor in the college during 
a part of Barlow's term, and often invited the poet to his 
home, where the attachment was formed. 

Barlow's standing at college is satisfactorily shown by 
the fact that the coveted honor of delivering the com- 
mencement poem was awarded him. The term " com- 
mencement poem " is, however, a misnomer, the poem 
having been delivered at the last examination of the 
senior year, which occurred in 1778, on the 23d of July. 



JOEL BARLOW. y 

During the war, as has been remarked, no public com- 
mencements were held, the graduating exercises being 
limited to the conferring of degrees. There was, how- 
ever, a public exhibition in the college chapel at the clos- 
ing examination of the senior year, and it was on this 
occasion that the poem was delivered and its author first 
introduced to the public. The programme for that day, 
as printed in the newspapers of the next week, intro- 
duced other members of the poet's class who later be- 
came known to fame ; it read as follows : — 

A Cliosophic Oration in Latin, by Sir Meigs. 

A Poetical Composition in English, by Sir Barlow. 

A Dialogue in English, by Sir Chaplin, Sir Ely, and Sir 

Miller. 

A Cliosophic Oration in English, by Sir Webster. 

A Disputation in English, by Sir Swift, Sir Wolcott, and 
Sir Smith. 

A Valedictory Oration in English, by Sir Tracy. 

An Anthem. 

This programme was carried out in the presence of the 
President, fellows, students, and a large body of invited 
guests. The poem followed the salutatory, and from con- 
temporary notices seems to have been one of the feat- 
ures of the occasion. With rare good judgment, the 
poet had chosen a theme of the deepest interest to his 
audience, the return of peace and the glorious future it — 
presaged for Columbia. For the poem the reader is re- 
ferred to Dr. Smith's work. It would be regarded as a 
respectable effort for commencement day even now, but in 
the paucity of poets which then existed, it was received 
with the highest marks of favor. The newspapers printed 
it with commendatory notices : it soon appeared in pam- 
phlet form, and finally reached the summit of a fugitive 



8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

poem's career by being embalmed in Dr. Smith's collec- 
tion of American Poems, published at Litchfield, Conn., 
in 1793. 

A few days later the associations of four stirring years 
were sundered, and the young men departed to win fame 
and fortune in a wider arena. A bright future awaited 
some of them. It was perhaps the strongest class thct 
Yale had ever graduated. Most of its members made a 
respectable figure in society, and there were several who 
achieved national fame. Sir Webster became the great 
lexicographer, Noah Webster ; Sir Swift — Zephaniah 
Swift — Chief Justice of Connecticut and Member of Con- 
gress ; Sir Tracy — Uriah Tracy — the famous jurist and 
statesman; Sir Meigs — Josiah Meigs — President of 
Georgia University and a well known educator, and Sir 
Wolcott — Oliver Wolcott — Washington's Secretary of 
the Treasury after Hamilton, and later, Governor of Con- 
necticut. These brave young spirits emerg'ed from the 
cloisters, parchments in hand, and little else wherewith to 
begin the battle of life. With the exception of Wolcott, 
they were without money or friends. Our hero's patri- 
mony had been expended in his education, and although, 
by the death of his mother in 1775, he had fallen heir to 
a small sum, he was sensible that his bread in the near fu- 
ture depended on his own exertions. Marriage, and a home 
too, were promised him as soon as he could command a 
settled position in life. His desires all centred in a lit- 
erary career. His commencement poem was only the 
iiiitiu})i, the nucleus of a great patriotic epic which had 
already taken shape in his mind, and to which he longed 
to devote the best powers of mind and body. But the 
gaunt wolf — poverty — which has dogged the steps of al- 
most every man of genius, confronted him. Literature, 
so poorly rewarded in our day, was far less remunerative 
then. The most sanguine could see no prospect of bread- 
winning in it. The poet's fancies, if indulged at all, must 
be pursued in connection with some avocation that 



JOEL BARLOW. g 

would afford support and the necessary leisure. Divinity 
and a tutorship in the college were the only two profes- 
sions which seemed at all conducive to this end. Barlow's 
friends recommended the former, as being, all things con- 
sidered, the most lucrative, congenial, and least exacting : 
none of his friends urged this with more vehemence than 
his former tutor, the Rev. Joseph Buckminster, now set- 
tled over the North Church in Portsmouth, N. H.,as suc- 
cessor to Dr. Stiles, and who seems to have formed a very 
high opinion of the capacities of his pupil. Barlow, how- 
ever, shrunk from the sacred calling ; he doubted his fit- 
ness for its grave responsibilities. But a tutorship in the 
college he ardently desired ; he expected it, since it was 
the custom of the corporation to thus honor students who 
had won distinction in the course, and he spent two years 
at New Haven in post-graduate studies, waiting for the 
honor which never came, supporting himself in the mean 
time by fitting a class of boys for college. The failure 
undoubtedly engendered a bitterness toward his Alma 
Mater which time never wholly effaced. His chief corre- 
spondents during this crucial period were Mr. Buckmin- 
ster, Noah Webster — who on leaving college had taken a 
school at Glastonbury, Conn. — and Miss Baldwin. The 
letters from Mr. Buckminster were the most important 
and interesting. This gentleman, who will be remem- 
bered as one of the most eloquent and liberal divines of 
his day, and the father of Joseph Stevens Buckminster, 
of Boston, a leader in the Unitarian movement of the 
succeeding generation, on leaving his tutorship at Yale 
had accepted, as before remarked, a call to the old North 
Church at Portsmouth, N. H., a connection which termi- 
nated only with his death thirty-three years later. Cer- 
tain letters addressed by him to Barlow at this time 
materially encouraged the poet to continue his literary 
efforts, and were largely responsible for his later suc- 
cesses. We present them seriatim. 



lO LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



CHAPTER II. 
1778-1780. 

" Portsmouth, Oct. 5, 1778. 

" I RECEIVED under cover from our worthy friend, Mr. 
Baldwin, two of your poems upon the Prospect of Peace, 
with an intimation that you desired they might be con- 
veyed in that way. I am very much obliged to you for 
them, but not so much as I should have been had they 
been accompanied with a letter from you. I am sure you 
are not so little acquainted with my disposition, or my 
particular tenderness for your class and for you, as to 
think that a letter would not have been particularly 
agreeable. The long acquaintance I have had with your 
class, the many favors I have received from them, the 
particular tenderness and respect with which most of 
them have treated me, joined to the pecuHar share of 
genius and merit with which, as a class, they were distin- 
guished, have begotten and cherished such feelings in me 
as time can never totally remove, and as I never shall 
feel for any other members of society. . . . Your poem 
does you honor in this part of the country, and every per- 
son that has seen it speaks very highly of it. It is partic- 
ularly agreeable to me, perhaps because my vanity would 
assume part of the merit, as it grew up, in a sort, under my 
auspices. But I am so little of a poet that I think the 
smallest share only is thus due to me. I advise you to 
encourage and cultivate your turn for poetry. I should 
think myself particularly honored if you will favor me 
with a view of some of your fugitive lucubrations. . . ." 

He wrote again, March 9, 1779 : — " I am exceedingly 
pleased with your letter, and the rather, as it intimated 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 1 

that your mind is not idle, but that you are at least med- 
itating something above the common level. Efforts of 
genius are ever to be commended, and it is in that way 
that we are to expect any improvement in those things 
which ennoble human nature. Your sentiments respect- 
ing divinity give me some reason to hope that you will 
make that your study. I certainly hope to see you in 
the sacred desk. ... I ever encouraged freedom of in- 
quiry in your class, and though it sometimes occasioned 
me a little difficulty, I never repented it. In the sacred 
history you will find a variety of subjects which will as- 
sure a field for your poetic genius, and that which you 
mention is by far the most interesting and affecting ; but 
I fear you poets are so fond of fiction, that in writing upon 
this you would introduce rather too much of it to suit 
the solemnity of the subject, or please the serious and 
devout heart. The history of Joseph has never had jus- 
tice done it in poetry that I have seen ; of Cain and Abel, 
in which a little machinery and fiction would do very 
well ; of Daniel, and a variety of others. If you will be 
kind enough to send along some of your poetic lucubra- 
tions, I shall esteem it a particular mark of friendship." 

The poet's reply has not been preserved. The corres- 
pondence continued, and, in a succeeding letter, Mr. 
Buckminster returned to the subject as follows : — 

** I am glad you have not given up the design of attempt- 
ing something in poetry, and your " Vision of Columbus " 
I fancy must be interesting and improving. You will be 
kind enough to give me the plan at some time or other. 
I wish you might obtain a place where you might attend 
principally to this poem till it was finished, and happy 
should I be to recommend a family in this part of the 
country which would be agreeable tQ you ; but the times 
have reduced our best characters to moderate means of 
subsistence, and those that are now rising are but mush- 
room gentry, and knowing but little of learning them- 
selves, they are but little anxious that their children 



12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

should know more. I believe, my dear friend, unless 
something unexpected opens, you must follow the advice 
I gave you, perhaps twelve months past, and with the 
help of a few sermons support yourself in application to 
your proposed poem for a time. But let me hear still fur- 
ther from you upon this matter, and I will endeavor to 
digest my thoughts upon this subject." And again, Dec. 
26, 1779 • " I have not yet had much time to turn my at- 
tention to your plan for the poem styled, ' The Vision of 
Columbus,' but will soon, and give you my thoughts 
upon it with my wonted freedom. The few lines that 
you have subjoined increase my desire of your having leis- 
ure to complete your wishes, for I think they give us rea- 
son to believe that you will answer all reasonable expec- 
tations. . . . I believe I could procure something of a sub- 
scription for you here among several gentlemen of liber- 
ality if you desired it ; and if there is any prospect of your 
being able to pursue your plan write to me particularly, 
and you maybe assured of all possible assistance." And 
again, Jan. 11, 1780: "The marks of sincerity and con- 
fidence that I discover in it (the letter) give me peculiar 
pleasure, and I shall be very happy if I can be instru- 
mental in promoting your interests at this frightful dis- 
tance. I find you feel as young men usually do upon re- 
ceiving the honors of college, and going out into the 
world, as it is termed. Were I to say all I think of your 
abilities, you would, perhaps, judge it flattery, and your 
fondness for the quiet scenes of literature will perhaps 
be productive of something that will hereafter do you 
honor and benefit mankind. ... I think a number of 
years may be as profitably spent at college after a person 
has received its honors as before, and especially at Yale 
with its present governors. Your President is a most 
worthy man ; he is a living library, a fund of good humor 
and sociability, and you may always obtain from him 
something new and useful. Mr. Baldwin is as improving 
a companion as you will ever find. 



JOEL BARLOW. 



13 



" If you will allow me to advise, you will be contented 
with your present circumstances, and pay a general atten- 
tion to all branches of education : you may pay a more 
particular attention to that which best suits your humor 
and inclination. This seems to be poetry, and you 
modestly intimate a scruple whether you have anything 
more than an inclination. 

" I believe you are the only person that has this scruple 
who has seen the 'Prospect of Peace.' . . . But you must 
remember that neither our country nor our countrymen 
are sufficiently refined, enriched, and improved to give 
a sufficient support to works of genius merely, and had 
you the genius of a Pope or a Milton, nay, as much superior 
as you wish, you might starve upon the pittance that a 
few persons capable of relishing your productions would 
give. Persons that give themselves up to the Muses 

must have a patron, and if you have a either in 

your own pocket or elsewhere, you may make this de- 
sideratum for yourself. The question then arises, which 
of the learned professions is the most favorable to the 
Muses? I don't hesitate to pronounce, it is the ministry. 
The study of the law is dry, far from insuring refined or 
ennobling sentiments or feelings; that of physic we 
should think would inspire tender and sympathetic feel- 
ings, but experience contradicts our theory. Divinity 
contains the most sublime subjects, the most elevated 
thoughts and exalted ideas, and in the Bible we shall 
find poetry that has never been equalled by mere man, 
and forces from us the confession that it is the breathing 
of a God. . . . The work of the ministry will afford you 
the fairest opportunity of indulging your poetic genius, 
and you will find connected with its study the noblest 
subjects to excite it." 

The following July he wrote in reference to the plan 
of the " Vision of Columbus " which Barlow had submitted 
to him : 

" I forget whether I have written since you were kind 



14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

enough to favor me with your plan for the ' Vision of 
Columbus'; if I have, I was not prepared to make any 
considerable observations upon it. I have in some of my 
leisure hours, which are very few, turned my attention to 
it. I have read it, with the sample you were kind enough 
to transcribe, to several gentlemen, to procure their sen- 
timents: they all approve and applaud, wish to see it 
executed, and encourage pretty raised expectations. For 
my own part, I am exceedingly pleased with it, and long 
for the execution with all the avidity that my attachment 
to you, to Yalensia, and the fine arts can inspire. You 
will perhaps find in your progress that the plan may in 
some parts be abridged and others will want enlargement ; 
some of the articles may be too trivial to need a particular 
description, and will only be hinted at or their places 
supplied with some others. In the contents of the second 
book, as they stand in your letter, you have supposed the 
reformation in religion to be the effect of the discovery 
of America. Though it might be the means of reviv- 
ing learning, and perhaps awakening an attention to the 
rights of mankind, yet I think the reformation in religion 
must be ascribed to a different cause ; but perhaps it 
may be justified by the license of the poets. I have no 
kind of hesitancy as to your poetic ability to execute 
your plan so far as that can go, but it requires an amaz- 
ing, universal knowledge to treat of the great variety of 
articles that you propose. A man must be not only a 
poet and man of letters, but a lawyer, politician, physi- 
cian, divine, chemist, natural historian, and an adept in 
all the fine arts. Your knowledge in all these branches 
is as great as any person of your age and advantages, 
but you must depend, I presume, in some of those 
branches upon those who have turned their particular 
attention to them. You will need to be careful in your 
choice. Another article that you will need particularly 
to attend to is the choice of those in whose judgment 
and criticism you can confide. You must be open to 



JOEL BARLOW. IC 

all, and the more observations you have made, whether in 
a way of praise or blame, the better ; but you will not let 
them influence you greatly, for you will find the tastes 
of mankind as different as their faces. There was never 
yet a sentence written but what somebody thought 
might be altered to advantage, and in your large design 
what touches upon any person's profession every one 
will think he has a right to judge. It will be of advan- 
tage to you to have a select number in whom you can 
confide to assist you, but do not confide so much in any 
as to give up entirely your own opinion, unless in some 
article where they have had greatly the advantage. Be 
open to conviction ; keep your eyes, your ears, and your 
heart open ; note what is well said by those in the lower 
walks of life, and be unmoved by what is ill said, though 
the person be ever so distinguished." 

The poem on which all these fears and hopes were 
based was the " Vision of Columbus," the first important 
poem distinctively American in subject and authorship 
ever projected, and which had so far taken form in the 
author's mind that in the summer of 1779 an elaborate 
draft of it was drawn up at Northampton, Mass., whither 
business of an unknown nature had taken him. This 
draft was as follows : 

"THE VISION OF COLUMBUS. 

" A plan for a poem on the subject of America at large, 
designed to exhibit the importance of this country in 
every point of view as the noblest and most elevated part 
of the eaj-th, and reserved to be (the) last and greatest 
theatre for the improvement of mankind in every article 
in which they are capable of improvement. The poem 
will be rather of the philosophic than epic kind. The 
machinery is simple, and it is hoped will be natural. As 
an angel is employed in unfolding these scenes to 
Columbus, nothing ought to be mentioned but what is 



\l 



l6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

important to the happiness of mankind, of whom these 
superior beings are always considered as the guardians. 
The circumstances of Columbus after his last return from 
America are well known to be (to have been) veiy mel- 
ancholy. Queen Isabella, his only benefactress, is dead. 
The King refuses to fulfil the contract upon which the 
discoveries were undertaken. The unfortunate, after a 
life of toil and disappointment for the good of mankind, 
is deserted by his friends and insulted by his enemies. 
In this situation the poem opens. 

^^ Book 1st. — Condition of Columbus. Night. Colum- 
bus' lamentation. Appearance and speech of the angel. 
His message to Columbus (is) to repay his toils by repre- 
senting the importance of them. They ascend a moun- 
tain that looks westward over the Atlantic. The conti- 
nent of America draws into vision. General appearance 
of America. Description of the Andes and other moun- 
tains through the continent. Seas and coasts, rivers, 
lakes, forests, valleys, soil, fruits flowers, air, predomi- 
nancy of cold, animals. 

" Book 2d. — Manners of the natives. A philosophical 
account of their constitution. Cause of the dissimilar- 
ity of nations. Wars of the natives. Hunting. Food 
and clothing. Education of their children. Arts of the 
natives. Their civilization — religion. The Esquimaux. 
Mexico. Peru. Story of Mango Capac. 

'■^Book ^d. — New face of things throughout America oc- 
casioned by the toils of Columbus in the introduction of 
Europeans. Effect of this in Europe. It enlarges the 
human mind and throws mankind into a different system 
of political interests. Its effect in the revival of learning 
in Europe, freedom of inquiry, civil liberty, reformation 
in religion, and happiness of mankind. Meantime the 
southern continent fades into obscurity with the rest of 
the world and the vision is confined to the northern con- 
tinent. 

''Book 4th. — Arts of utility and domestic life. Build- 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 7 

ings, towns, manufactures, clothing, iron, sulphur, salt- 
petre, medical inventions. Mercurial inoculation. Hus- 
bandry. Commerce. 

''Book $tk. — Wars down as far as the present day, with 
some particular descriptions. 

"Book 6th. — Political arts. Police of every particular 
colony. General confederation. Independence. Foreign 
negotiation which introduces some reflections upon civil 
government in general and the progress of society. 

"■Book yth. — Liberal arts. Gardening, architecture, 
painting, fine writing. Mineral, mechanical, electrical and 
astronomical. Philosophy. Moral philosophy and religion. 

"Book %th. — Invocation for the unfolding of a more 
general and important scene. The particular articles 
which in the preceding books are traced as far down as 
the present day, are here thrown into a general view and 
carried into futurity. General view of science. Its use 
in exalting reason to its proper dignity over the passions. 
Female sex. Their importance in a moral view. Misery 
occasioned to mankind for want of attention to them. 
Their future progress in the advancement of science and 
happiness. 

"Book <^th. — Philosophy of the human mind. Nature of 
God. Connection and necessary happiness of the intelli- 
gent universe. This happiness interrupted with respect 
to man. Promotion of this happiness a complete system 
of religion, as it is the end of all revelation and the com- 
plete duty of man. Deism, superstition. Future prog- 
ress of society. Happy effect of an open communication 
of all nations, as it will promote an assimilation of man- 
ners, a liberality of sentiment, a union of interests, and a 
union of language. This will make the acquisition of 
knowledge more easy, policy more mild and extensive, 
wars less frequent, the earth more populous and cultivated 
and human nature more glorious. 
" Northampton, 

"Aug., 1779." 
2 



1 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

We shall presently follow this plan to its fruition. 
While it is being formulated, the reader will remember, 
the author is at Yale College, pursuing post-graduate 
studies, writing poetry, taking tea with young and old 
ladies, ripening his acquaintance with Miss Baldwin, at 
whose father's house he boarded, and eking out slender 
finances by tutoring the scions of wealthy families in the 
city. Sundry letters to his college chum, Noah Webster, 
and to Miss Baldwin during her frequent absences, give 
pleasant glimpses of his life and thoughts during this 
period. On the first letter to Webster the latter has en- 
dorsed : " I was keeping school in Glastonbury (Ct.), the 
first school I undertook after leaving college." The letter 
is dated Jan. 30, 1779. "You and I," he wrote, "are not 
the first in the world who have broken loose from college 
without friends and without fortune to push us into 
public notice. Let us show the world a few more exam- 
ples of men standing upon their own merit and rising in 
spite of obstacles. I have too much confidence in your 
merits, both as to greatness of genius and goodness of 
heart, to suppose that your actions are not to be conspic- 
uous ; and I hope you have too much confidence in my 
friendship to suppose that I don't speak from the heart. 
We are now citizens of the world in pursuit of different 
interests, no longer in circumstances of warming the soul 
and refining the sensibility by those nameless incidents 
that attend college connection. Let us lay flattery wholly 
aside, and improve our friendship and refine our tastes by 
a serious correspondence. I am yet at a loss for an em- 
ployment for life, and unhappy in this state of suspense. 
The American Republic is a fine theatre for the display 
of merit of every kind. If ever virtue is to be rewarded 
it is in America. Literary accomplishments will not be 
so much noticed till some time after the settlement of 
peace, and the people become more refined. More blus- 
tering characters must bear sway at present, and the 
hardy veterans must retire from the field before the phi- 



JOEL BARLOW. ig 

losopher can retire to the closet. I don't feel as if I ever 
should enter upon either of the learned professions for a 
livelihood. I move at present in as regular a sphere as if 
I was governed by Sir Isaac Newton's laws ; my circuit 
is from new college to old, and from old to Mr. Baldwin's 
for study, school-keeping and eating, all which movements 
are regularly pointed out by my inclinations, my poverty, 
and my appetite. I have, however, some irregular move- 
ments. I spend every evening in ladies' company ; this 
I call an eccentricity in my orbit. I wish I could say 
something upon politics, which I think is necessary for 
every man. I think, however, the civil dissensions you 
mention are a necessary evil in a republic. I am at a loss 
whether they are really for the disadvantage of the com- 
munity or not. They enlighten the common people and 
make them better judges of public characters. This will 
make candidates for public honors more cautious and 
more faithful. The author of ' Common Sense,' it 
seems, has felt too secure and important. Had he been 
cautioned a year ago that America was as independent 
in sentiment as he would represent her in his policy, he 
would probably have continued in office and deserved 
the honors we were willing to bestow upon him. His 
removal will make room for others, and his example will 
be their caution. Respecting your request, I have but 
few copies of the ' Prospect of Peace ' left. I will, how- 
ever, send you three or four the first chance I get." 

Webster's reply called out another letter on the same 
general subject. 

"Yours of the 17th I received by post. It breathes 
kindness like yourself and considerably reinspires my am- 
bition. It won't require the accuracy of a meteorological 
instrument to give an account of my feelings since your 
good genius first led me into thoughts of my present 
plans. Hopes and fears succeed one another very fre- 
quently, though the former are generally very weak, and I 
cannot but think your friendship for me induces you to 



20 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

be too sanguine in your expectations. My obligation to 
you is as extensive as your good wishes can be, and if 
ever I succeed in this way, I shall always consider you as 
the foundation of all my good fortune. At present, I 
must own, my prospects are clouded. Mr. Perkins treats 
me like a gentleman and a man of sense. He expressed 
his diffidence with respect to the generosity of people, 
and appeared to be very frank and friendly. I received 
a letter from him to-day with my papers that I had left 
with him. He has now entirely given up the matter and 
advises me to go into business for a living, and make 
poetry only an amusement for leisure hours, as the most 
that can be expected from our countrymen in this age is 
* Be ye warmed and be ye filled.' These leisure hours 
will never come to me after I am buried in business for 
life. I am now willing to devote the heat of youthful 
imagination to these objects ; if that cannot be done, I 
shall give it up forever. I am determined to make 
every effort within the reach of modesty this fall, Mr. 
Lockwood and Mr. Atwater are as zealously my friends 
as I could wish. They have seen your letters, and they 
will engage the President in my favor, as he has always 
been friendly to me. You are sensible that the matter is 
delicate,* and you must be careful of saying too much or 
driving too fast. I shall tarry at New Haven till I hear 
from you, which must be by next post. . . ." 

The reader is by no means to infer, however, that grand 
designs alone occupied the poet during this period. His 
was a versatile mind, and glided without friction from the 
discussing polemics and theology with grave professors 
to the gossip and merry badinage of belles and beaux. 
Letters of the period show him to have been a favorite 
in society. His letters to his lady-love, many of which 
lie before the writer, prove him to have been an ardent, 
tender, impassioned lover, — qualities, we may remark, 

* Of the tutorship. 



JOEL BARLOW. 21 

which distinguished him to the end of life. The reader 
may be curious to know how a lover thought and wrote 
in 1779, and so, deprecating criticism, we include a few 
extracts. They will be given to an appreciative audience, 
for only the scholarly and refined will be interested in 
this story of a poet's trials and triumphs. 

On one occasion the lady is visiting in North Guilford, 
and the swain affects to be jealous. 

" Do,'.Ruthy, tell me sincerely," he urged, " don't some of 
those mountain swains invite you to ramble in their green 
retreats, entertain you with fine stories about Arcadian 
nymphs and rural innocence ? Don't you never rest half 
raised in silent attention on a bed of gold, to hear some 
gentle Alexis tell how Apollo became a shepherd, and led 
the same course of life that they do ? how he became 
angiy with Jupiter because he raised thunder-storms to 
vail the face of the sun ? how he went and killed the Cy- 
clops because they made thunderbolts for Jupiter? how 
these Cyclops were Vulcan's journeymen, and that, enraged 
at Apollo, Vulcan went limping up to heaven and com- 
plained to Jupiter? Jupiter immediately kicks Apollo 
out, and leaving the chariot of the sun he went to keep- 
ing sheep on earth. He taught the shepherds all these 
fine Arcadian schemes, taught them to relish the sweets 
of rural innocence, and introduced the golden age. I tell 
you, Ruthy, you must be on your guard ; these stories will 
be told with all the persuasive arts of eloquence and music, 
so you will be induced to imitate the example of Apollo, 
quit the chariot of your beauty as he did that of the sun 
and turn your attention to the humble pursuit of rustic 
sports. But you must remember, ma amie, that your old 
friend Apollo was a poet as well as shepherd, and in 
winter time the most likely place to find him will be at 
college, so I advise you to return to New Haven as soon 
as you receive this letter. . . ." 

The following are interesting for their local and per- 



22 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

sonal gossip. July 26, 1779, he wrote to Miss Baldwin 
from Middletown : 

" I have a happy moment this morning to devote to 
you, and I can do it with all the eagerness of a Persian 
when he addresses the rising sun, and I wish I could do 
it in as visible a manner. The bearer, Miss Fowler, will 
tell you what a fine family dance we had last night at 
Capt. Starr's. I came from New Haven yesterday ; am 
now with Meigs, who sends love to you. I am going 
to Hartford this morning ; shall return to New Haven 
next week, either after my things or else to stay at New 
Haven for the winter. My prospects are as uncertain as 
ever. . . . 

And the same day, from Hartford : " Saturday I came 
as far as Wethersfield, and drank tea at Col. Beldrige's 
with Mr. Lockwood and his sister, then rode into Hart- 
ford to Mrs. Whitman's, where I am intending to stay till 
Tuesday morning i this is Monday afternoon : Betsey 
Stiles is coming here to drink tea. Mr. Lockwood and 
Betsey say they will certainly come and see you pretty 
soon, and I wish you would come up here with them. I 
wish you to spend as much time in this town as you can : 
you may depend on being treated well. Besides the 
company here, Sammy Lyman, of Litchfield, will be at 
Mr. Ellsworth's all summer. I dined with him and Web- 
ster yesterday and to-day." 

From Redding, where Putnam's division of the Conti- 
nental army had just gone into winter quarters, he wrote 
in October, 1779 : 

" I had the happiness, when I came into Redding, of 
meeting both your brothers at Gen. Parsons'. Dudley 
went off Sunday morning. Abraham* preached, to the 
great approbation of Mr. Bartlett's little flock. I spent 
that day with him, and Monday morning he came to 
mingle souls along with me at my brother's. We drank, 

* Now a chaplain in the army. 



JOEL BARLOW. 23 

and dined, and talked politics with my brother till after 
noon. Then, to speak in the Arcadian style, we retired 
to a wild autumnal grove back of the home lot. In this 
grove the ground is so accustomed to rise to see people 
pass in the road at some distance, that it now overlooks 
the country round, and the valleys have so long acknowl- 
edged its eminence that geographers won't call it a hill. 
The leaves kept constantly falling from the trees to give 
us as good a prospect as possible. To a fancy as lively 
as yours this situation won't appear romantic. But our 
romance was of a more serious kind : we received no aid 
from the situation, except being out of hearing of other 
folks. We built castles much higher than the hill, and 
wanted nothing to support them but a little of the mam- 
jnon of this world — the pursuit of which for any other 
reason than to make virtuous people happy I most heart-, 
ily despise. I spent the day with infinite satisfaction, and 
now I part with the dear man as the body parts with the 
soul. I tarried at General Wolcott's six days ; they are 
all alive in Litchfield. I am not determined what I shall 
do this winter, or where I shall live." 



V 



24 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



CHAPTER III. 

1 780-1 783. 

The uncertainty as to his prospects, indicated in the 
last letter, continued into the summer of 1780.? Toward 
the end of this summer he was commissioned a chaplain 
in Poor's Brigade of the Massachusetts line,.^nd in Sep- 
tember joined the brigade, then engaged in guarding the 
passes of the Hudson. Motives both of jSatriotism and 
self-interest prompted him to this step, the army being 
then sadly in need of able and properly qualified chap- 
lains. He evidently took the step with reluctance, and 
chiefly from the solicitations of friends. Some of these 
are indicated in a series of letters from Abraham Bald- 
win, then a chaplain in Putnam's division, and which 
also contain pleasant descriptions of camp-scenes and an 
interesting allusion to the ** Vision of Columbus." The 
first is dated in May, 1779, at Redding, where the divis- 
ion had wintered. " To-day," wrote the future senator, 
** we have been over to General Putnam's to a splendid 
entertainment, which, if I should use you as they fre- 
quently do the public, I should describe to you at large 
as to guests, covers, toasts, and music, but shall only tell 
you in all that it was very agreeable, such as you might 
expect from a collection of careless, friendly, sensible 
gentlemen whose plan of life precludes any great multi- 
plicity of interests and vexations, and permits them to 
enjoy each other. Major Putnam was fitting for a jour- 
ney through New Haven. I have stolen a few minutes 
to write you by him. ... I doubt not you have fre- 
quently thought of me since my sudden elopement, how 
I made out, how enjoyed myself, etc. The plan and 
scene of action you are but too well acquainted with. 



JOEL BARLOW, 2$ 

My particular situation is in a very agreeable family, who 
treat me with every mark of friendship and respect. The 
General will not fail in inclination to make me happy 
here, and it is in his power. We are about three miles 
from the brigade and visit them once a day. I have a 
retired study to myself when I please, a very clever set 
of company in the house, whom I can enjoy at any time. 
.... There have been two general reviews, parade, 
salutations, firing, etc. Yesterday a very grand one. 
What will be the plan for the summer campaign is not 
at all known in this quarter. The generals have just 
received letters from generals Washington and Greene, 
which I have read. They say nothing determinate. It 
was before conjectured the movement would be to the 
northward. Guards and baggage were called in for that 
purpose, but the word now is to wait further orders. 
They will get into tents in a few days, — rather suppose 
the encampment will be below here, in Wilton. Perhaps 
there will not be a move from here for some time. If so, 
I will write you when college collects. That seems yet 
to be my only home ; but if a person sees clever things 
one way, that is no reason why he should never look 
another." The letter ends : " There are several commis- 
sions vacant in this brigade ; the General asked m.e to 
recommend some good fellows to him. If you know of 
any, write me. It will be determined soon." 

In March, 1780, he thus returned to the attack, with 
an allusion to the poem, writing from the camps on the 
Hudson : "You tell me that you are very choice in your 
company, and talk very little with anything clothed in 
flesh-and-blood and grosser than spirits — that you can 
raise ghosts, apparitions and folks dead for centuries, and 
everything in that way but the devil. All I have to say 
is, remember Salem,, beware of the ghost of Cotton 
Mather or any of his descendants. ... I doubt not 
your plan gives you an elegant and refined pleasure in 
the pursuit of it. That part of the profit is certain and 



26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

is no inconsiderable one to a person determined to enjoy 
himself. I fear your circumstances will oblige you to 
hurry matters more than you would choose. Hoard it 
if possible. It is to live forever : therefore follow nature 
and let it have a long youth. Can't you lay some plan 
for business which will support you and yet allow you 
to prosecute this .? The plan is for you to come and be 
chaplain for our other brigade, for I have them both to 
preach to. Bishop Ellis is not here, and it is a chance if 
he joins again. Depend upon it, there is not a situation 
in the army that would be more agreeable to your turn. 
You would be happy in it ; you could get matter and 
work it up, and do just as you pleased. If you won't 
believe me, come and see. I will engage to make you 
happy, a little while at least. 

" You ask me for family and state anecdotes to weave 
into your 'Vision.' I have come across several, which, if 
properly volatilized, sublimated, etc., in your poetical 
alembic, I doubt not might make a pretty little relish 
between some of the dishes of your entertainment. There 
is the story of the second unfortunate colony, which 
came to Virginia under Mr. John White in 1587, and 
was never after heard of. There were no traces of their 
being destroyed ; by some inscriptions found ten or 
twelve years after, it was supposed they moved off, and 
has given ground to the conjecture that they may have 
given rise to a set of inhabitants which will yet be dis- 
covered in the western parts. The character of Captain 
John Smith I will recommend to your attention. It was 
uncommon before he came to America. In the war be- 
tween the Germans and Turks he was taken prisoner^ 
carried into Turkey, and subjected to an interesting vari- 
ety of fortunes. But in the first settlement of America 
he was a capital character. Without him it scarcely 
seems that a settlement would have been effected. You 
will find much said of him in Hakluyt's * Voyages and 



JOEL BARLOW. 2/ 

Discoveries,' a respectable clergyman in the reign of ( 
Elizabeth, who is very particular upon those times." 

After instancing the story of Pocahontas, Colonel Bev- 
erly's " History of Virginia," and Thomas Harlot's treatise 
on Raleigh's dominions, the letter proceeds : " I have 
got acquainted this winter with Mr. Kemble, father to 
General Gage's lady, who before Whig and Tory times 
was a principal character here, and have had the finger- 
ing of his books. He is a native of Smyrna, but is now 
a Tory of New Jersey. Be that as it may, I have got 
much satisfaction from him. He tells me the best ac- 
count he has ever seen of this continent is in the New 
American Magazine for the years 1758-59. It also con- 
tains the travels of Mr. Thomas Gage through the greater 
part of South America, finished about the year 1740. 
You may perhaps find them among some of our curious 
geniuses. President Stiles can tell you about it. . . ." 
Barlow seems to have listened to the proposition, for, 
May 2d, his friend wrote that he had set the necessary 
wheels in motion to secure his appointment. " I know 
it would be highly agreeable to the officers of the bri- 
gade," he says, " for they feel a pride in showing out in 
those ways. Here is Stark's Brigade in our neighbor- 
hood which I often visit, and as worthy a one as any in 
the army. It is composed of Webb's, Jackson's, Angel's, 
and Sherburn's regiments. They have never had a chap- 
lain. The difficulty in the way there is, S himself 

is a goose-head, and you would not be happy in his fam- 
ily. The regiments are not of the line of any state, are 
therefore continually diminishing, and in no way to be 
recruited. The General, I believe, will not return to 
them again. There is a committee of Congress coming 
here, whom they expect to take the matters of this bri- 
gade. If they get a clever fellow for a general and are 
put upon a good footing, it will be as clever a post as 
there is in the army." 



28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

July 2d he wrote again, his letter containing an inter-' 
esting reference to Colonel Humphreys, the poet. 

" I am very sorry you have been obliged to wait in 
suspense when everything was fixed to your mind, and 
you left the only person to put in motion. We con- 
versed with the commandant and a number of the officers 
of the brigade ; they all expressed themselves well pleased ; 
the commandant said you should have an appointment 
whenever you pleased. Parson Hitchcock, who belongs 
to one of their brigades, said it would be best for you to 
make them a visit first, the sooner the better, and take 
your appointment when you pleased. Hitchcock is a 
very clever fellow, and interested himself to have you 
come. His brigade and yours always lie together; he 
wants a good man to be company for him. We wrote 
you this immediately after our arrival here from New 
Haven. The purport was to have you take a letter from 
the President to introduce you to Hitchcock, which would 
not be bad to have him show to the officers of the bri- 
gade, and with that come on as soon as was convenient. 
Come as soon as you can, Joel, prepared to preach or not, 
as you like best, you know I shall be glad to see you. 
Our friend Humphreys is appointed aid to His Excel- 
lency.* Show us a better man." 

These arrangements were successful, and two months 
later the poet received his appointment as chaplain in 
Poor's Brigade of the Massachusetts Line. His life in 
the army, covering a period of three years, was one of the 
most interesting epochs in his career. We shall describe 
it, first, generally, and then more particularly by means 
of a series of interesting letters written his wife and other 
friends. The duties of the continental chaplain do not 
seem to have been onerous. Abraham Baldwin writes 
his sister Ruth in 1781, that he has as much leisure and 
feels as cleverly as ever. "I read French, write, and 



* General Washington. 



JOEL BARLOW. 20 

make visits from morning till night, and then sleep from 
night till morning," he continues. Preaching one sermon 
on a Sunday — attending a funeral or a wedding, he 
might have added — made up the sum of his duties. To 
Barlow, however, the period was one of intense intellectual 
effort. In addition to his professional duties he was hard 
at work on his poem, and in conjunction with his friends 
Humphreys and Dwight, both of whom were in the army 
at this time, the former as aid, the latter as chaplain, he 
wrote a series of stirring lyrics, designed to stimulate and 
encourage the ranks, and improve their esprit as well as 
morals. Not sufficient importance has been given thie 
minnesingers of the Revolution by our historians. Their 
number was much greater than has been supposed. Mr. 
Moore, in his " Songs and Ballads of the Revolution," has 
preserved ninety-two of their fugitive pieces ; but they 
by no means include all : " The Ballad of Nathan Hale," 
Dr. Hopkinson's " Battle of the Kegs," and the scathing 
satires of Philip Freneau remain to prove the effective- 
ness of these warriors of the pen. But the majority were 
produced for the occasion, and after being repeated from 
mouth to mouth perished with those who used them. 
This fate seems to have overtaken the productions of 
our triumvirate, scarcely one of their fugitive pieces hav- 
ing been preserved.* 



* One was discovered among the earlier efforts of the poet, preserved by 
his wife. It has no date, but was evidently written to celebrate Burgoyne's 
defeat. The following are the opening stanzas and chorus : 

** While scenes of transport every heart inspire, 
The Muse, too, triumphs in her kindling fire. 
Blest in their bliss, she lifts a bolder wing, 
Aids every wish and tunes the harp to sing ; 
To their glad concert wakes the accordant strain 
And mingles with the music of the plain. 

" ' Joy to the Bands,' her voice arose, 
' Who chained that veteran host of foes ; 
Who bade Britannia's glory fade 
And placed the wreath on fair Columbia's head.' 



30 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



Having now a settled position the poet thought he 
might safely marry : the lady blushingly consented, but 
the father was obdurate. He had never had as high an 
opinion of the rhyming lover as his daughter and sons, 
and now refused consent to the marriage on the ground 
that the candidate's prospects would scarcely warrant it. 
No arguments that the lover urged could change his 
purpose, and the latter resolved on bolder measures. In 
January, 178 1, while the army lay in winter quarters, he 
paid a visit to New Haven, and on the 26th the couple 
were privately married, the marriage having been kept a 
secret from all for nearly a year, though there is among 
the letters evidence that the young wife was restive and 
ill at ease under the weight of her secret. When it was 
finally discovered, the husband wrote a manly letter to 
the wronged father, containing as ingenious a defense of 
an indefensible action as was ever penned. And so, to 



" * Hail the day and mark it well : 
Then the scourge of Freedom fell, 
Then your dawning glory shone, — 
Mark it, Freeman ! 'tis your own. 

" * Now recount your toils with pleasure. 
View the strife and sum the treasure ; 
Run the battles o'er again, 
Sound the charge and sweep the plain ; 
Here behold the foe pursuing — 

How he drives his headlong way. 
Whelming towns and realms in ruin, 

Sure to seize the distant prey. 
False and faithless tribes adore him, 

Join the shout and yield him room. 
Now, Albania, fall before him — 

Now, Rebellion, learn your doom.' " 

The concluding stanza is as follows : 

" Then every glad blessing thy country can lend 
When her foes and her slaughters shall cease, 
Shall arise to the Hero who bade her ascend 
To conquest, to glory, and peace." 



JOEL BARLOW. jl 

the burdens of his office and his ambition while in the 
army our hero added a husband's fears and anxieties. 

In the letter to his sister before quoted, Abraham 
Baldwin pokes fun in his quiet way at these distractions. 

" Poor Joel has been over here looking for opportu- 
nities to send to you these ten days. He hears of one, 
hurries home and writes his letter — when he returns the 
man is gone ! A few days after, I sent to him for his letters, 
but he must wait to write a new cover, and when they 
come the opportunity is lost again ; this has happened 
about every other day this week past. I have now sent 
after them again, and hope, in mercy to the unhappy man 
destined at last to be the bearer of such multiplied and 
mighty materials, they will come soon, and not saddle 
the poor man with a weight of copies more burdensome 
than though he carried the original himself with the love, 
sighs, dreams, heart, and meat all together. The packet* 
even if it comes now, I believe will be like Dick's patched 
jacket, eighteen thicknesses." These letters we shall 
next consider and transcribe somewhat in full, both from 
the pleasant glimpses they give of the minuti^ of the 
camp, and as tending to interest the reader thus early in 
the fortunes of the young people. The first is dated 
*'Near Paramus, Sept. ii, 1780." 

'* I have just returned from making a visitation to my 
brigade. Brother Bram (Abraham) and I have been the 
grand rounds to-day through all the encampment, which 
is about four miles in length, in a fine open country be- 
tween Hackensack and Paramus. We have visited all 
our friends, which are very numerous, and have had a 
happy day with them. I was detained at Redding some 
days and did not arrive at camp till Saturday night. I 
lodged in a tent on a bed of bark that wet night ; next 
day found Abram ; we agreed to live together in houses 
as long as the army kept together. Monday, the army 
marched from that place to this, a few miles. Here, v/ith 
getting wet and my fatigue, and by eating too much fruit, 



32 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



I got cleverly sick and really felt quite ill for two or three 
days, when I began to see that that was nothing to the 
purpose. On Thursday evening I began to open my 
mouth, which is none of the smallest, and out of it there 
went a noise which the brigade received as the duty of 
my office. On Sunday, or rather on the Sabbath, I gave 
them a preachment, and will you believe, Ruthy, I was 
- flattered afterward by some of the most sensible hearers 
with the great merit of the performance. I know you 
will ask me how I made out ; I really did well, far beyond 
my expectations, and I find it all a joke, as much as Cas- 
siu^ did, to be in awe of such a thing as myself. I now 
feel hearty and well, and begin to grow fat and talk Dutch. 
Yesterday the funeral of General Poor was attended with 
great solemnity and military parade. All the officers of 
the army — perhaps five hundred in number — with a regi- 
ment of infantry and a regiment of dragoons, marched in 
procession, with a large band of music playing the funeral 
march. In the first rank the deceased general's horse 
was led with his usual trappings, his saddle and holsters, 
and boots fitted in the stirrups with no rider. In this 
situation the horse was a perfect picture of bereavement, 
and the most striking object that could be imagined ; then 
followed the corpse with his sword and pistols hanging on 
the coffin, then the particular mourners, the two regi- 
ments, the officers, beginning with the juniors, while His 
Excellency closed the procession, which was about a mile 
long and extremely slow. Parson Evans gave us an 
oration at the grave, and these were the last honors paid 
an exceeding worthy character. I then was introduced 
to several gentlemen of the first merit, and was treated 
with particular attention by General Greene, who, I find, is 
reckoned the second character on the continent. After 
all my bad feelings I have certainly done right in coming 
with the army. My duty is extremely easy and is not 
disagreeable ; they certainly treat me with attention. 
Colonel Bailey, our commandant, is a good, easy, sensible 



JOEL BARLOW. 33 

man. In short, Ruthy, I will say but one word farther 
about myself separate from you, and that is this follow- 
ing, viz.: that I sit here half asleep at a Dutchman's 
table, with brother Abram snoring by my side." 

Camp near Hackensack, Monday. 
" Yesterday I had another preachment, which kept me 
awake awhile — whether it had the same effect upon 
others I am not certain. I expect Mr. Lockwood along 
in a few days, when, if I don't have a good long letter, I 
shall flog somebody. Perhaps I shall think he has 
thrown the letter away if he don't bring me one, in order 
to carry out his plans with you. By the way, tell Dudley 
between him and me Lockwood will undoubtedly join 
the army. Tell me about your commencement-time, 
whether you were happy, because I contemplated you 
all that morning flashing away in a dance so gay and so 
busy that you scarcely rayed a thought so far as New 
Jersey, but after you returned home, you sweet girl, I 
know you thought of me. . . . Enjoy what friends you 
can pick up, but put little confidence in the generality of 
them ; and as for the work, let it slide, for it never does 
good folks but very little good. . . . Abraham's little gen- 
eral is come, and he and I will separate, though not very 
distant." 

Sept. 23, 1780. 
" This is Saturday afternoon. I have fixed my magazine 
for to-morrow, and my thoughts are at liberty to dwell 
upon their favorite object, the centre of all my happi- 
ness. We have to-day made a move back from Hack- 
ensack to an old encampment here near the river, where 
I have taken lodgings in an old Dutchman's bedroom, 
as snug as a poker, and have as good a study as ever 
lived. Since Abram has gone into the General's mess 
I have come in with my commandant, as hearty and as 
clever as you could wish. The worst difificulty is, the 
3 



34 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



Sabbath days come rather too thick : there will be one 
upon my heels now before I finish this letter. . . . On 
Tuesday Mr. Lockwood gave me your dear good letter and 
told me a thousand clever stories about you, as he knew 
it would make me feel happy to hear your praises ; he 
made us a good visit and is gone on. The way is open 
for him to join the army and he will leave college this 
fall, but the corporation are so cunning that Dudley can 
have no advantage of it. . . . 

" My dear, it is now Monday morning. I have left that 
blank in the line for Sunday, when I had no feelings worth 
communicating, except a few anxious thoughts about the 
preachment, which I made in a great Dutch barn. This 
is the third sermon I have given them and I feel pretty 
well about it. We are going this day to see a grand 
parade of the whole army, which will be worth my atten- 
tion. We have fourteen brigades lying upon this ground 
in a pleasant country, and they don't make a bad figure. 
I shall see Bram and shall probably find a conveyance 
for this paper, if I can find nonsense enough to fill it. 
.... The two great articles of your attention will be to 
make yourself agreeable to others and agreeable to your- 
self, or in other words to improve and be happy. I have 
no doubt but you will attend to these. The only way to 
be happy is to think you are so — you have many of the 
materials and will undoubtedly find more. With regard to 
improvement, only aim at the two grand objects of dignity 
and ease, and let them be carried to perfection and traced 
into all their consequences ; they will comprehend all the 
graces of manner that you need attend to. We must be 
careful that stiffness is not assumed for dignity nor a tri- 
fling littleness for ease ; but dignity and ease united and 
softened into a lady's character are a great ornament, 
and I know no place where they make a happier concert 
than they do sometimes in my Ruthy. ... It is now 
Monday evening, my love. Billy Little came in and broke 
me off in the forenoon to go to the parade, which was 



JOEL BARLOW. jC 

indeed grand. He sends love to his sister. Abram sends 
his boy this minute for my commands to New Haven, 
and I finish my letter in a flutter. I must tell you one 
word : here is a pair of folks requesting to be joined in 
matrimony this evening. I have been advising them to 
suspend the matter a few days, as it is but one day since 
they ever saw each other ; but they will take no denial. 
They are here in my study and I must link them, but I'll 
warrant you I'll not kiss the bride. Oh, Ruthy! do 
laugh at me." 

Orangetown, Oct. 2. 
" I had written so far when General Pattison and Mr. 
Hutchins called, and I have been since to attend the execu- 
tion of Major Andre, Adjutant-General of the British army, 
hanged as a spy. A politer gentleman, or a greater char- 
acter of his age, perhaps is not alive. He was twenty-eight 
years old. He was dressed completely and suffered with 
calmness and cheerfulness. With an appearance of phi- 
losophy and heroism, he observed that he was buoyed 
above the fear of death by the consciousness that every 
action of his life had been honorable ; that in a few min- 
utes he should be out of all pleasure or pain. Whether 
he has altered his mind, or whether he has any mind, is 
now best known to himself. My heart is thrown into a 
flutter, my dear, at the sight. My situation in the army 
grows more and more agreeable, I am as hearty and as 
healthy as I can be in your absence. I gave them a 
preachment yesterday for the fourth time — a flaming polit- 
ical sermon, occasioned by the treachery of Arnold. I 
had a number of gentlemen from the other brigades, and 
I am told it did me great honor. My vanity will show 
you that I write just as I think. I had a billet last week 
from General Greene to dine with him. There were a 
number of gentlemen, etc. .• ..." 



36 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



NOTOWAY, Oct. lO. 

" My feelings with regard to myself are very easy. I 
grow fat and handsome as well as you. ... I am here sit- 
ting in this window in just such a Dutch bedroom as I had 
before. I have the knack of turning Dutch folks out of 
their bedrooms — but they love to oblige the Domine. 
Tell my wife, Nancy, that I shall soon get so Dutchified 
that I never will have a Yankee wife. I have never seen 
an English woman since 1 crossed the river. . . . 

'• A beautiful morning, my dear. I am just called up to 
a fine breakfast of butter and honey, which we generally 
have with our tea. But I gladly leave it to steal an inter- 
view with my Ruthy, or rather a vieiv, which is greatly 
obscured by a distance of one hundred and twenty miles." 

NOTOWAY, Oct. 1 8. 
" I grow more fleshy and more happy, or I should be 
more happy if I could make you happy. My prospects 
for my poem are better now than ever. I shall have 
more leisure than I expected, and in winter shall have 
scarcely any interruption if I choose to pursue the plan. 
I intend to take winter quarters in the vicinity of camp, 
wherever it may be, and set Quamminy to work like a 
sprite all winter. 

" I will tell you more about it when I see you. Yester- 
day the Rev. Mr. Claremont * had a billet from General 

I Washington to dine. How do you think I felt when 
the greatest man on earth placed me at his right hand, 

j^ with Lord Stirling at his left, at table ? I graced the table 
with a good grace, and felt perfectly easy and happy. 
There were many gentlemen there. You must allow me 
a little vanity in these descriptions because the scenes are 
new. Since the preaching of my sermon upon the 
treason of Arnold and the glory of America, several 
gentlemen who did not hear it, and some who did, have 

* One of Barlow's aliases. 



JOEL BARLOW. 37 

been to read it. They talk of printing it. Colonel Hum- 
phreys has made me promise to loan him the plan and 
the first book of my poem to read at headquarters. 
He and many other friends pay me particular attention. 
. . . My dear, it is now Sunday evening. I have been 
preaching to the Connecticut folks to-day, exchanging 
with Abram. I shall stay in camp but one more Sunday 
evening, and the next after, whose arms do you think 
will be open to receive me ? Our Colonel Bailey says I 
must go and preach in his own town of Hanover in the 
Bay State this winter. I wonder whether I shall. We 
have news from the northward that Colonel Brown, class- 
mate of Colonel Humphreys, is killed in a skirmish on 
the Mohawk River ; his party, however, gained a consid- 
erable victory. The loss of Brown is much lamented : he 
was a promising character, and as worthy an officer as 
any of his rank." 

Litchfield, Dec. 19, 1780. 

" I have been these four days in Litchfield, enjoying 
some of the best friends I have in the world. . . . This 
is a blank of three days. It is Friday morning. I have 
preached at Redding and this place since I saw you, and 
shall have to do it again if I stay here another Sunday. 
I am uncertain whether I shall make myself happy at 
camp this winter on account of accommodations. If I 
cannot, I am determined to return either to this town or 
to Hartford. If this is the case, I am determined that 
you shall be with me or near me The people are un- 
commonly sociable and friendly, and you Avould spend 
as happy a winter here as at Hartford." 

During this absence from camp he visited New Lon- 
don, and offered his fair correspondent these observations 
on the town : " I have spent a good evening with the 
Miss Thomsons and am now at liberty to make as many 
philosophical remarks upon the people of New London 
as I please. They attend more to commerce than any 



58 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



town in this state. This branch of business polishes 
the mind to a certain extent, yet, as it leads the whole 
body of the people into a constant pursuit of gain in one 
particular way, it leads the mind to a particular narrow- 
ness of thought, which always prevents any eccentric ex- 
ertions of giving, and superinduces an illiberal turn of 
mind. This is exemplified in Holland. A Dutchman's 
brain is said to be too fat for the play of genius or refine- 
ment of taste. This is truly the case here. The price 
of insurance and the property of a good sailing-vessel are 
the usual topics, and sailors are the greatest pedants in 
the world. . . ." 

The next summer was largely spent with the army, but 
in the mass of letters we find none of general interest ex- 
cept the following description of life in the camp: 

Camp not on Gallows Hill. 
October i6, 1781. 
" I wish I could tell you how we live here ; it would be a 
curious description to one who never saw it. What do 
you think of my not having sat two minutes by a fire this 
fall ? What do you think of a thin tow tabernacle that 
trembles at every breath of air, spread out upon the cold 
ground, affording a free passage for moons and stars and 
suns and dews and rains and winds, where I can lie and 
count the stars all night ? It was by this contrivance that 
the old shepherds at Babylon became the greatest astron- 
omers in the world. I want nothing but Father Atwater's 
celestial globe, and a little of his patience, and a few warm 
blankets (of which I bought one to-day in addition to one 
I had before), to enable me to call all the constellations by 
name, and become an accurate star-gazer. One thing is 
apt to obstruct my nightly visions : John has been fix- 
ing a crotch at each end of my bed, about six feet high, 
on which he has laid a pole. This pole supports a 
small tent, which depends on each side of the bed to the 
ground. This he calls curtains, hence it is evident that I 



JOEL BARLOW. OQ 

have two thicknesses of Hnen doth between me and 
heaven. This will not only keep off the dew, but it will 
prevent my counting the stars — at least, without some 
difificulty. And lastly, what do you think of Ben Welles' 
sitting here reading poetry while I write to Ruthy. We 
all live grandly and feel well. To-morrow brings the mem- 
orable 17th of October. We have invited about 80 offi- 
cers to dine, among whom is General Heath and a number 
of grandees. Letters are received this day from General 
Washington, informing us that Lord Cornwallis is closely 
besieged ; that he has left several of his outposts, and has 
retired to his inner works. The General says it is probable 
his Lordship's resistance will be very obstinate ; that he 
commands six thousand regular troops, and that he will 
not resign so respectable a force without being pushed to 
the last necessity. The events of this month I think the 
most capital that ever America saw.' We long to have 
them known." 

The succeeding winter was spent almost entirely in 
Redding, at the house of his brother, Col. Aaron Barlow.* 
He was hard at work on his poem. Frequent references 
to it occur in his letters, but the most interesting is in a 
letter from Abraham Baldwin to his sister Ruth, dated 
Greenfield, Jan. 23, 1782. 

"On my way hither," he writes, " I made a long and 
happy visit to our friend (Barlow), and must tell you, as 
you are somewhat interested, that I never was more 
pleased with him in my life. He is certainly one of the 
worthiest and best lads in the world. He never did that 
which will be to the world a greater proof of it than this 
winter. He has not written less than sixteen hundred 
lines within these eight weeks, and as good as ever was. 
I believe from my soul he will get the palm from every 
one of our geniuses. The burden of the work he will go 



* The house is still standing and inhabited, a brown, long-roofed structure 
on the banks of the Saugatuck, in West Redding. 



40 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



through with this winter, so that I imagine it will do to 
open his subscriptions next summer. He has also written 
an elegy on Mr. Hosmer,* one of the best in that kind of 
writing, which I have done him the honor to pronounce 
not inferior to Gray's, or any of the rest of those who are 
already consigned to immortality. I tell him to print it 
immediately. I congratulate you and your brothers on 
this connection." On Barlow's return to camp the next 
summer (1782) he found nothing being talked of but a 
speedy peace, which he is " fully confident will take place." 
" In that case," he sagely remarks, " furloughs will be- 
come fashionable, and I shall go to Philadelphia much 
earlier than I had expected." His object in visiting that 
city, then the centre of the publishing interest, was to se- 
cure subscriptions for his poem, and probably to secure a 
publisher. A few days later he writes that he is busy pre- 
paring the subscription papers, and getting letters to Phila- 
delphia " which were absolutely necessary, and must be 
had then or never." At length, on the 24th of October, 
1782, he is able to write from camp: 

" General Lincoln rides to-morrow morning to Philadel- 
phia, and I go with him under the most favorable auspices. 
Many circumstances have occurred here since I left you 
which have assisted my affairs beyond my expectations. 
The subscription here is likely to be more extensive than 
I expected. I have more and better letters to carry, and 
indeed every wish I have formed upon the matter is likely 
to be more than answered. General Lincoln treats me 
with the greatest friendship, and promises me a most favor- 
able introduction at Philadelphia." 

Before setting out, however, he received and answered a 
letter from his old friend, Noah Webster, who, during the 
four years which had elapsed since his graduation, had 
been employed in school-teaching, first at Glastonbury, 
and later at Hartford, Conn., and Goshen, N. Y. His 



* Titus Hosmer, Member of Congress. 



JOEL BARLOW, 4I 

genius had also been developing, and in this letter he un- 
folded a scheme on which he had been long brooding, and 
which ripened soon after into his " Grammatical Institute 
of the English Language." This book was an improve- 
ment on Dilworth's " New Guide to the English Tongue," 
then in general use in our schools, and the forerunner of 
the famous Dictionary. Any one who will take the 
trouble to examine the "Grammatical Institute," or read 
Mr. Scudder's description of it in his " Life of Webster," 
will see that several of the suggestions given in the fol- 
lowing letter from Barlow were heeded. 

Camp, Aug ^i, 1782. 
"Dear Webster: — Your agreeable favor of the 25th is 
received by Mr. Lockwood. Poh ! I am all aground now. 
I don't mean that Mr. Lockwood received it, I mean that 
I received it, and I can assure you, my good friend, I am 
extremely happy in being so kindly remembered by one 
whom I hold so dear — one to whom I am bound by grat- 
itude as well as by many other tender ties, which it is my 
ambition to feel and acknowledge. Neither has neglect 
nor forgetfulness been the occasion of my silence, but I 
have been most intensely employed. This has obliged 
me to forego the most agreeable amusement of my life, 
writing letters of friendship to those who are entitled to 
my tenderest attention. I most heartily feel for you, my 
Webster, in everything you feel as a misfortune, though 
perhaps they are not really such which wear that appear- 
ance. Your perseverance will certainly overcome them. 
You will gain from them experience in the knowledge of 
human life, and be ready to relish better fortune when 
it shall appear. We are all a pack of poor dogs. I have 
half worn out my life in buffeting my destiny, and all I 
have got for it is the knack of keeping up my spirits, let- 
ting the world slide, and hoping for better days. I like 
your plan about Dilworth ; it will be useful and successful 
in the world at large if you can make it useful to yourself. 



42 LIFE AND LE TIERS OF 

Your attempting it is an expression of that benevolence 
to your fellow-creatures which I know you to possess : 
but it is a work of labor, and you ought to make some- 
thing by it. You know our country is prejudiced in favor 
of old Dilworth, the nurse of us all, and it will be difficult 
to turn their attention from it ; you know, too, that the 
printers make large impressions of it and afford it very 
cheap. 

" Now if you make an impression, unless it be very 
large, you can't afford it so cheap as they do : even if you 
get nothing for your copy, if it is large the novelty of the 
book will make it lie upon your hands. If the impression 
is small, the greatness of your necessary price will be 
another reason why it will lie upon your hands. I once 
ventured an impression of Lowth and lost half the cost 
and all my labor. However, yours is a thing more gen- 
erally wanted, and the risk may not be so great. I only 
suggest these facts for your caution. If you contract 
with your printers upon good terms, or take some other 
cautious plan, you may make advantage from the design. 
I wish well to the plan. Dilworth's grammatical plan is 
much worse than nothing. It holds up a scarecrow in 
the English language, and lads once lugged into it when 
young are afraid of all kinds of grammar all their days 
after. I will help you to what knowledge I can upon the 
subject you mention. But it appears to me at first 
thought that the names of places, except a few of the 
most noted, will not be useful to be spelled out by chil- 
dren. I would prefer filling a few pages with detached 
pieces of American history, or some other history, or 
geography. However, this by the bye. It is a happy 
thought and it comes cheap." 

His letters from Philadelphia, describing the journey 
and his reception there, are interesting. Under date of 
November 2d, he writes : " On the morning after I wrote 
you from Peekskill, which was Friday morning, I left 
camp with my friend General Lincoln and my friend 



JOEL BARLOW. ^2 

Mr. Pierce, Paymaster-General. We had a most delight- 
ful time of it, except one wet day and one Sunday, each 
of which we rode forty miles. The whole length of New 
Jersey is through one of the most delightful countries in 
the world. The towns of Hackensack, Newark, Eliza- 
bethtown, Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton, extending 
in a direct line from the Hudson to the Delaware, are 
beautiful villages, some larger and some smaller than our 
Wethersfield. We passed along this fine road from 
King's Ferry to this city, one hundred and thirty miles, 
without any remarkable occurrence except friendship, 
merriment, and philosophy, which the General dealt out 
in large rations, and which I endeavored to return to the 
best advantage. The worst of it was we got into several 
very learned disputes, which are yet unsettled, but which 
we are to adjudge before I return. He is really one of 
our first characters, and he is as amiable as he is great. 
You know he is Secretary at War, which gives him the 
superintendence of all the military arrangements of 
America. But that by the bye. My reception here is 
quite as favorable as I ever expected. I am treated with 
civility by the great, with formality by the many, and 
with friendship by the few. I am rather agreeably dis- 
appointed in the general character of the town. There 
doesn't appear to me that extravagance, that haughtiness, 
or idleness which I have heard represented. \/rhere is a 
mixture of all nations and all creatures ; they serve to 
correct each other. The polite circles are easy, thought- 
less, and agreeable. I don't think there is that affectation 
by any means which we find in Boston and many places 
of less report. They have a strange knack of turning 
day to night, and the contrary. It is common in splen- 
did entertainments not to sit down to dinner till candle- 
lighting. Monday evening. — I have been to the post- 
office, and, you dear girl, to my great surprise I find no 
letter, though the post came to-day. . . . The post comes 
from New Haven to Danbury, there falls in with the 



44 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



Fishkill post, which is direct ; so there is a direct convey- 
ance in six days, or from Tuesday till the next Monday, 
from you to me. . . . My business here, I think, will 
succeed to my wishes." 

In a second letter, dated November 12, he returns to 
the subject: "My reception is flattering beyond our 
expectations. Not only those gentlemen to whom I h?d 
letters, which were fifteen in number, but many others 
of the first and greatest character, offer the matter the 
warmest encouragement, and think that they and their 
country will be more indebted to me than I to them. 
This, you see, depends upon my judgment, which is not 
unbiassed by vanity. The possibihty that this letter may 
be lost or opened prevents my being particular about my 
prospects here ; but this be assured of, they are good, and 
extensive beyond our hopes." 

There is no further reference in the letters to this visit 
to Philadelphia. 

The winter of 1782-83 was spent by the young couple 
in their own hired house in Hartford, Barlow employing 
himself in the revision of his poem, and in securing a sub- 
scription-list large enough to warrant its publication. 
Presumabl}^, he also entered on the study of the law, 
toward which, rather than to divinity, his thoughts were 
now tending. This is the more probable, as his intimate 
friend, John Trumbull, the poet, had settled at Hartford, 
and was now practising before the courts. Barlow still 
retained his chaplaincy, however, and on the ist of May, 
1783, again set out for the camps at Newburgh. One 
letter written from there to his wife will complete the 
pictures he has given us of life in the army : 

Camp, May 6tk. 
'' I have but a moment to give you, by Whitman, the 
history of the last eight days. We arrived at camp and 
dined at headquarters on Thursday. We find every- 
body merry and sociable. On Sunday I made a preach- 



JOEL BARLOW. 45 

ment, and yesterday we came down here twelve miles 
to see Erom..'^ ... He has taken the attorney's oath. 
Major Trescot saw Dudley at Greenfield, well, a few days 
ago. It is uncertain yet whether I go to Philadelphia. 
Times are very punctilious about leave of absence. . . . 
I don't believe the army will disband till August or Sep- 
tember. , . ." 

Twelve days later he is in Philadelphia with Trumbull, 
(both presumably having business with the printers), and 
on May 19th writes a characteristic letter from that city: 

" We expect to tarry in this town about eight days, 
just long enough to show ourselves. I grow black and 
handsome ; Trumbull grows red and fat." Returning, 
the summer was spent with his brigade, nominally at 
least, though in that season of inaction it is probable 
that frequent furloughs were obtained, and after the joy- 
ful disbandment in October at Newburgh, he returned 
to private life. 

* Abraham Baldwin, who had just been admitted to the bar. 



46 



LIFE AND LE TIERS OF 



CHAPTER IV. 

1783-1788. 

He at once fixed his abode at Hartford, the little cap- 
ital on the Connecticut, even then the seat of a re- 
fined and cultivated society. His career there was a com- 
plex one, exhibiting many phases. He soon abandoned 
the plan of an early publication of his poem, probably 
from the shortness of his subscription-list, and also per- 
haps with a view to a more careful revision. He studied 
law, however, wrote a great deal of poetry, annuals, New- 
Year's verses, bon mots, political squibs and satires^ 
hymns and paraphrases of the Psalms, and with Elisha 
Babcock, a substantial printer of the town, established 
a weekly newspaper, called The American Mercury — a 
scholarly, thoroughly respectable sheet, with a mild bias 
toward republicanism, or what later came to be thus 
designated. The office copy of this periodical is pre- 
served in the library of Yale College, the first number 
bearing date July 12, 1784. Modern newspaper readers 
would regard it much as the archaeologist looks on Cypri- 
ote antiquities. Perhaps we cannot better describe it 
than by presenting the prospectus, which was as follows : 

" Barlow and Babcock have established a new printing- 
office near the State House in the city of Hartford. They 
propose publ'^ihing a weekly paper, entitled The American 
Mercury. As they have a prospect of a very extended 
circulation and constituency they will exert their utmost 
abilities to furnish a useful and elegant entertainment for 
the different classes of their customers. The paper will 
be a sheet of white, demi-imperial, with an elegant new 
type, published every Monday morning, and delivered to 
subscribers in the city at eight shillings the year, one- 



JOEL BARLOW. 47 

half to be paid on delivery of the first number and the 
other at the end of the year. To gentlemen at a distance, 
who send for single papers enclosed and directed, five 
shillings paid on subscribing and seven at the end of the 
year. ... In order to render the publication as useful as 
possible, the publishers propose occupying the first page 
with regular extracts from Cook's last voyage (published 
by authority in London and lately come to hand) until 
the whole of that valuable and original course of discov- 
eries shall be communicated to their customers, who will 
thus, in the course of one year's paper, be possessed of 
the whole of that celebrated work which is now sold at 
four dollars. There will likewise be inserted in a supple- 
ment, if there is not room in the sheet, all the future acts 
and resolves of the states of Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut. Advertisements will be inserted at a reasonable 
price." 

A series of careful essays on current political and social 
topics contributed by Barlow to this journal were the 
progenitors, it is said, of the modern editorial. For 
nearly a year and a half — from July 12, 1784, to Novem- 
ber, 1785 — the young poet continued his connection with 
the paper, relinquishing it at last to turn his attention 
more particularly to the study of the law. The next 
spring, in April, 1786, he was admitted to the bar at Fair- 
field, and read at the time a long dissertation on the prin- 
ciples and practice of law. 

He did not, however, succeed as a lawyer. He was 
averse to practising the arts of the shyster or the petti- 
fogger, and without making use of these it was almost 
impossible at that time for a young lawyer to rise in his 
profession. He always, however, entertained the highest 
respect for the law as a science, and subsequently, in his 
"Advice to the Privileged Orders,'' showed that he had 
not only mastered its principles, but had excellent ideas 
on the necessity of a reform in its administration. 



■1- 



48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

In literature, however, he was more fortunate, and in 
these years, otherwise barren of results, there came to 
him the assurance — so cheering to the heart of the neo- 
phyte — of literary success. 

The General Association of the Congregational 
Churches of Connecticut, at their session in 1785, had 
voted a revision of the Book of Psalmody then in use. 
This book was the version of Dr. Watts, which had been 
given to the religious world half a century before. There 
were several reasons why the American churches desired 
a new version. Many of the Psalms had been " locally 
appropriated," that is, applied to the peculiarly isolated 
condition of the dissenting churches in England, and it 
was thought desirable that they should be altered and 
more generally applied. 

Furthermore, twelve of the most beautiful Psalms of 
David had been wholly omitted by Watts in his version, 
it is said because he was never conscious of a sufKicient 
degree of poetic inspiration to attempt them. It is per- 
haps the best proof that can be given of our poet's repu- 
tation at this time that the work of revising this collec- 
tion was tendered him. He readily accepted it and at 
once began his task. He re-wrote the misapplied por- 
tions, corrected the antiquated phraseology, and with the 
aid of his poetical friends supplied the omitted Psalms. 
One of these — the one hundred and thirty-seventh — from 
Barlow's pen, has never been equalled, not even by Hal- 
leck, who attempted it in 1821. We give examples of 
both versions, allowing the reader to make his own com- 
parisons. 

Original version, from the Bay Psalm Book, 1640, not 
attempted by Dr. Watts : 

I. " The rivers on of Babilon 

There where we did sit down, 
Yea, even there we mourned when 
We remembered Sion. 



JOEL BARLOW. ^y 

2. " Our harp we did hang it amid 
Upon the willow tree, 
Because there them that us away 
Led in captivitee, etc." 

BARLOW'S VERSION. 

" Along the banks where Babel's current flows 

Our captive bands in deep despondence strayed, 
While Zion's fall in sad remembrance rose, 

Her friends, her children, mingled with the dead. 

" The tuneless harp that once with joy we strung, 

When praise employed, and mirth inspired the lay, 
In mournful silence on the willows hung, 

And growing grief prolonged the tedious day. 

*' The barbarous tyrants, to increase our woe, 
With taunting smiles a song of Zion claim, 
Bid sacred praise in strains melodious flow 

While they blaspheme the great Jehovah's name. 

" But how, in heathen climes and lands unknown, 
Shall Israel's sons a song of Zion raise .'' 
O hapless Salem, God's terrestrial throne, 
Thou land of glory, sacred mount of praise. 

" If e'er my memory lose thy lovely name. 
If my cold heart neglect my kindred race, 
Let dire destruction seize this guilty frame — 
My hand shall perish, and my voice shall cease. 

" Yet shall the Lord, who hears when Zion calls, 
O'ertake her foes with terror and dismay ; 
His arm avenge her desolated walls. 
And raise her children to eternal day." 

Barlow's version was well received by the New England 
churches, and was in constant use among them until 
rumors of the poet's lapse from orthodoxy in France be- 
came so rife that it was discarded for one prepared by 
Dr. Dwight. The work, however, did not escape criti- 
cism. The changes of expression, the " improvements " 
on Watts, and the verbal alterations in the text were re- 
garded with suspicion by the more rigid, and the author 
4 



50 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



was declared to have taken unwarrantable liberties with 
the word of God. 

During the poet's residence in Hartford there arose 
and flourished a somewhat remarkable association or 
club, which, from his intimate connection with it, de- 
serves an extended notice. It was known far and wide as 
the " Hartford Wits." Its original members were Dr. 
Lemuel Hopkins, John Trumbull, Joel Barlow, and David 
Humphreys. We call it remarkable, because at a day 
when Boston was as barren of literary talent as she has 
since been prolific, the little provincial village on the Con- 
necticut boasted at least four poets, each of whom had 
gained a national reputation, while three of them at least 
were favorably known on the other side of the Atlantic. 
The four were equal in age as well as similar in tempera- 
ment, and the place of their nativity was the same — the 
hill country of Western Connecticut, 

Hopkins was born at Waterbury in 1750, and, after 
studying medicine, settled in Hartford about 1784, where 
he spent his life in the practice of his profession. He died 
in 1801. 

Trumbull was born at Watertown, in the same year, 
1750; graduated at Yale College in 1767; spent two 
years as a tutor at Yale; in 1773 entered the office of 
John Adams as a student of law, and in June, 1781, re- 
moved to Hartford, and was now living there in the prac- 
tice of his profession. His " McFingal," first published 
in 1782, achieved several editions in this country, and 
was republished in England. 

Humphreys, born at Derby in 1753, has been mentioned 
in the letters of his friend Barlow as having been appointed 
aide-de-camp to Washington, a position which he retained 
until the close of the war. At Yorktown, for gallant 
conduct, he was voted a sword by Congress. In 1784, 
when Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams were appointed 
commissioners to negotiate treaties of commerce with 
various European powers, he accompanied them as 



JOEL BARLOW. . cj 

their secretary. He returned to America in 1786, and 
was now in Hartford as a representative from Derby in 
the State Legislature, and in other official positions. An 
old friend and comrade who sometimes met the tuneful 
circle at their reunions was Dr. Dwight, now a quiet 
country pastor at Greenfield Hill, near Fairfield. Richard 
Alsop, Theodore Dwight, Drs. Nathan Cogswell and 
Elihu Smith, were later added to the club, but this was 
apres des Rois. These four congenial spirits formed a 
union as brilliant as it was powerful : their influence on 
the politics and society of their age cannot be overesti- 
mated. UTne first effort of the club was a series of satir- 
ico-political papers, aimed at the factions whose wrang- 
lings then threatened to strangle the infant republic in 
the very morning of its days. The series comprised 
twelve numbers, and was modelled somewhat on the plan 
of the Rolliad of the English satirists. The initial num- 
ber appeared in the New Haven Gazette and Connecticut 
Magazine for October 26, 1786, accompanied by an in- 
genious introduction, which described the discovery, in 
a ruined city of the New World, of an epic poem of great 
antiquity, but complete, which was styled " The Anar- 
chiad : a Poem on the Restoration of Chaos and Substan- 
tial Night." The poem detailed the several steps by 
Vvrhich the "restoration " had been accomplished, which 
steps were connected in an ingenious way with the fac- 
tions which were then distracting the country. 
V The appreciation of the satires was intense and their 
popularity unbounded. They were copied into scores of 
newspapers, became the theme of common conversation, 
and aided largely in forming the popular feeling that made 
possible the Federal constitution of 1787. Although no 
names appeared to these productions, it was well known 
that Humphreys, Barlow, Hopkins, and Trumbull were 
the authors, and their reputation rose accordingly. The 
last paper of the ,** Anarchiad " appeared in the Gazette 
for September 13, 1787. The club's next venture was 



52 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



the " Echo," a series of lampoons directed more espe- 
cially against certain social and literary follies then ram- 
pant, and particularly against the stilted and magnilo- 
quent language then used in speaking of the com- 
monest events.* 



* As a literary curiosity, take the following account, by a Boston edicor, 
of a thunderstorm that visited his modest capital : " On Tuesday last, about 
4 o'clock P.M., came on a smart shower of rain, attended with lightning and 
thunder no ways remarkable. The clouds soon dissipated, and the appear- 
ance of the azure vault left trivial hopes of further needful supplies from 
the uncorked bottles of heaven. In a few moments the heavens were again 
overshadowed, and an almost impenetrable gloom mantled the face of the 
skies. The wind, frequently shifting from one point to another, wafted the 
clouds in various directions, until at last they united in one common centre 
and shrouded the visible globe in thick darkness. 

" The attendant lightning with the accompanying thunder, brought forth 
from the treasures that embattled elements to awful conflict, were extremely 
vivid and amazing loud. 

" Those buildings that were defended by electric rods appeared to be 
wrapped in sheets of livid flame, and a flood of the pure fire rolled its burn- 
ing torrents down them with alarming violence. The majestic roar of dis- 
ploding thunders, now bursting with a sudden crash and now wasting the 
rumbling echo of their sounds in other lands, added indescribable grandeui 
to the sublime scene. 

" The windows of the upper regions appeared as thrown wide open, and the 
trembling cataract poured impetuous down. More salutary showers and 
more needed have not been experienced this summer. 

" Two beautiful rainbows, the one existing in its native glories, and the 
other a splendid reflection of primitive colors, closed the magnificent pic- 
ture, and presented to the contemplative mind the Angel of Mercy, clothed 
with the brilliance of this irradiated arch and dispensing felicity to as- 
sembled worlds, 

" It is not unnatural to expect that the thunderstorm would be attended 
with some damage. We hear a barn belonging to Mr. Wythe, of Cambridge, 
caught fire from the lightning, which entirely consumed the same, together 
with several tons of hay, etc," 

The club's " echo " is equally delightful : 

" On Tuesday last, great Sol, with piercing eye, 
Pursued his journey through the vaulted sky, 
And in his car effulgent rolled his wa)'. 
Four hours beyond the burning zone of day : 
When, lo ! a cloud, o'ershadowing all the plain, 
From countless pores perspired a liquid rain. 



JOEL BARLOW. 53 

1/^ The winter of 1786-87, however, was spent by our poet 
in more serious Hterary labor. He was bringing out his 
epic, "The Vision of Columbus." In the spring of 1787 
it appeared — a small octavo, with a dedication to " His 
Most Christian Majesty, Louis the Sixteenth, King of 
France and Navarre." The Preface was dated March r, 
1787. Nearly a score of the opening pages were devoted 
to a biography, in prose, of Columbus, the hero of the epic. 
The poem followed, in plan substantially the same as that 
sketched at Northampton in 1779, and the volume closed 
with a list of the subscribers, 170 in all, by whose aid it 

While from its cracks the lightnings made a peep, 

And chit-chat thunders rocked our fears asleep. 

But soon the vapory fog dispersed in air, 

And left the azure, blue-eyed concave bare. 

Even the last drop of hope, which dripping skies 

Gave for a moment to our straining eyes, 

Like Boston rum from heaven' s/ww/^ bottles broke, 

Lost all the corks, and vanished into smoke. 

But swift from worlds unknown, a fresh supply 

Of vapor dimmed the great horizon's eye. 

The crazy clouds, by shifting zephyrs driven. 

Wafted their courses through the high-arched heaven, 

Till, piled aloft in one stupendous heap. 

The seen and unseen worlds grew dark, and nature gan to weep. 

Attendant lightnings streamed their tails afar. 

And social thunders waked ethereal war ; 

From dark, deep pockets brought their treasured store ; 

Embattled elements increased the roar. 

Red, crinkling fires expended all their force, 

And tumbling rumblings staid their headlong course. 

Those guarded frames, by thunder-poles secured, 

Though wrapped in sheets of flame, those sheets endured ; 

O'er their broad roofs the fiery torrents rolled. 

And every shingle seemed of burning gold. 

Majestic thunders, with disploding roar 

And sudden crashing, bounced along the shore, 

Till, lost in other lands, the whispering sound 

Fled from our ears, and fainted on the ground. 

Rain's house on high its window-sashes oped, 

And out the cataract impetuous hopped. 

While the grand scene by far more grand appeared 

With lightnings never seen, and thunders never heard. 



54 ^^P^ ^^D LETTERS OF 

had been published. The poem was a success in every 
particular. At home it was received with unbounded 
applause, and rapidly passed through several editions. It 
was re-published in England, then not partial to Ameri- 
can productions, and was not unkindly received by the 
critics. It also appeared in Paris in a French dress, where 
it met with distinguished marks of approval from the 
Parisian raconteurs, with whom, indeed, everything Amer- 
icain was then in high favor. For years no literary Amer- 
ican was so well-known, so much read, or the subject of so 
much eulogy, as Joel Barlow. 

More salutary showers have not been known 
To wash dame Nature's dirty, homespun gown. 
For several weeks the good old Joan's been seen 
With filth bespattered, like a lazy quean ; 
The husbandman, fast travelling to despair, 
Laid down his hoe and took his rocking-chair. 
While his fat wife, the well and cistern dried, 
Her mop grown useless, hung it up and cried. 
Two rainbows fair that Iris brought along, 
Picked from the choicest of her colored throng : 
The first-born, decked in pristine hues of .light 
In all its native glories, glowing, bright ; 
The next, adorned with less refulgent rays. 
But borrowing lustre from its brother's blaze, 
Shone, a bright reflex of those colors gay. 
That decked with light creation's primal day. 
When infant Nature lisped her earliest notes, 
And younker Adam crept in petticoats, 
And to the people to reflection given, 
" The sons of Boston," the elect of Heaven, 
Presented Mercy's angel, smiling fair — 
Irradiate splendors frizzled in his hair — 
Uncorking demijohns, and pouring down 
Heaven's liquid blessings on the gaping town. 
N. B. — At Cambridge town, the selfsame day, 
A barn was burnt well filled with hay. 
Some say the lightning turned it red, 
Some say the thunder struck it dead. 
Some say it made the cattle stare, 
And some it killed an aged mare ; 
But we expect the truth to learn. 
From Mr. Wythe, who owned the barn." 



JOEL BARLOW. ^i 



CHAPTER V. 

1788-1795. 

In the midst of these varied pursuits there appeared in 
the poet's horizon one of those speculative barks, 

" Built i' the eclipse 
And rigged with curses dark," 

which have from time to time sunk beneath the waves of 
the American poHtical sea, engulfing whole platoons of 
statesmen in their vortices. On the close of the war the 
attention of the speculative was attracted to the magnifi- 
cent public domain of the nation, and syndicates were 
formed to purchase large blocks of virgin land, survey and 
map, and sell at an advanced price to settlers. The first 
and most notable of these were The Ohio Land Company, 
and its satellite, The Scioto Land Company. The former 
originated with two New England gentlemen of standing 
and character, Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper, 
both of whom had served in the Revolution with distinc- 
tion. The latter, Avhile exploring the Ohio valley in 1785 
as Government geographer, became impressed with the 
fertility and resources of the country, and returning to 
New England, early in 1786, sought out Putnam at his 
home in Rutland, Worcester County, Massachusetts, to 
confer with him in regard to their purchase and settle- 
ment. The result of this conference was an address to 
the people, and more especially to the officers and sol- 
diers who had served in the late war, and who were, by a 
recent act of Congress, entitled to receive certain tracts 
of land in the Ohio country, stating that the subscribers, 
from personal .inspection and from other incontestable 
evidences, were fully satisfied that the lands in that quar. 



56 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



ter were of a much better quality than any other known 
to the New England people ; that the climate, seasons, 
products, etc., were in fact equal to the most flattering 
descriptions published of them, and that, determined to 
become purchasers, they were desirous of forming a gen- 
eral association with those who entertained the same 
ideas ; and closed by proposing the following plan, viz.: 
** that an association by the name of The Ohio Company 
be formed of all such as wish to become purchasers in that 
country who reside in the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts only, or to extend to the inhabitants of other states 
as shall be agreed on " ; and to bring the matter to a 
focus, all disposed to engage in the enterprise were in- 
structed to meet at designated places in their several 
counties and elect delegates, who should meet at the 
Bunch of Grapes Tavern, at Boston, on the ist of March, 
1786, and there perfect the plan of the Association. The 
meeting was attended by eleven delegates, articles of 
agreement signed, and officers elected. A year later the 
delegates met again, and finding that two hundred and 
fifty shares of one thousand dollars each had been sub- 
scribed, deputed one of their number, the Rev. Manas- 
seh Cutler, of Ipswich, to negotiate with Congress for the 
desired lands. They could not possibly have secured a 
more adroit and diplomatic agent. Dr. Cutler was a 
graduate of Yale, a man of wit and genius, who had taken 
degrees in three learned professions — law, divinity, and 
medicine — and who was favorably known in the most 
cultivated circles of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. 
On July 5, 1787, Dr. Cutler rode into New York, "by 
the road," he tells us in his diary, " that enters the 
Bowery," and put up his horse at the sign of the Plough 
and Harrow in the Bowery barns. The Continental Con- 
gress was then in session, in labor with the Constitution 
which made a nation of a group of warring and inde- 
pendent sovereignties. Dr. Cutler had many forcible 
and weighty arguments to urge in favor of his proposi- 



JOEL BARLOW. r^j 

tion : the wealth of the infant nation, the security for its 
pubHc debt, lay in its lands. To sell and settle these as 
fast as possible was therefore an object of financial and 
patriotic interest. The proposition of The Ohio Compa- 
ny was entirely straightforward and business-like. It pro- 
posed to buy one million and a half acres of land on the 
Ohio, lying about the present city of Marietta, at a spe- 
cified price, and to pay for it at a specified date. Men of 
the highest standing in Congress and out of it favored 
it, among them St. Clair, the president, and Osgood, the 
head of the Board of Treasury. By the majority, how- 
ever, it was received with marked disfavor, some profess- 
ing to see in it a scheme of speculators to get possession 
of the public lands, and thus advance their price, some 
arguing that Congress itself should dispose of the lands 
to actual settlers, while the Southern members opposed 
it from the sectional feeling, and the known anti-slavery 
views of Dr. Cutler and his associates. In his journal, 
under date of July 19th, Dr. Cutler records that "there 
are a number in Congress decidedly opposed to the terms 
of negotiation, and some to any contract." The diplomat 
was discouraged at the strength of the opposition, and for 
a time inclined to abandon the cause as lost. But at this 
juncture aid came from an unexpected quarter. There 
was living in the city at the time a gentleman named Wil- 
liam Duer, a man of talents and distinguished service, the 
Secretary of the Board of Treasury, and a personal friend 
of Alexander Hamilton. He came to Dr. Cutler with a 
proposition, which we will describe in the latter's own 
words, as recorded in his journal under date of July 20th : 
" Colonel Duer came to me with proposals from a number 
of the principal characters in the city, to extend our con- 
tract and take in another company, but that it should be kept 
a profound secret. He explained the plan they had con- 
cocted, and offered me generous conditions if I would 
accomplish the business for them. The plan struck me 



58 



LIFE AND LEISTERS OF 



agreeably. Sargent * insisted on my undertaking it, and 
both (Duer and Sargent) urged me not to think of giv- 
ing up the matter so soon. I was convinced it was best 
for me to hold up the idea of giving up a contract with 
Congress and making a contract with some of the states, 
which I did in the strongest terms, and represented to 
the committee and to Duer the difficulties I saw in the 
way, and the improbability of closing a bargain when we 
were so far apart, and told them I conceived it not worth 
while to Say anything further to Congress on the matter. 
This appeared to have the effect I wished. The commit- 
tee were mortified and did not seem to know what to say, 
but still urged another attempt. I left them in this state, 
but afterwards explained my views to Duer and Sargent, 
who fully approved my plan. Promised Duer to con- 
sider his proposal. I spent the evening closeted with 
Colonel Duer, and agreed to purchase more land, if terms 
can be obtained, for another company, which will proba- 
bly forward the negotiation." 

Saturday, July 2ist, he adds: "Several members of 
Congress called on me early this morning. They dis- 
covered much anxiety about a contract, and assured me 
that Congress, on finding that I was determined not to 
accept their terms and had proposed leaving the city, 
had discovered a much more favorable disposition, and 
believed if I renewed my request I might obtain condi- 
tions as reasonable as I desired. I was very indifferent, 
and talked of the advantages of a contract with some of 
the states. This I found had the desired effect. At 
length I told them that if Congress would accede to the 
terms I had proposed I would extend the purchase to the 
loth township from the Ohio and to the Scioto, exclu- 
sively, by which Congress would pay nearly four millions 
of the national debt. That our intention was an actual, 
an immediate settlement of the most robust and indus- 

* One of the associates. 



JOEL BARLOW. 59 

trious people in America. In these manoeuvres I am 
much indebted to Colonel Duer and Major Sargent. 

" By this ordinance we obtained a grant of near five 
millions of acres, amounting to three and a half millions of 
dollars — one and a half million for The Ohio Company 
and the remainder for a private speculation, in which many 
of the principal characters in America are concerned. 
Without connecting this speculation similar terms and ad- 
vantages would not have been obtained for The Ohio Com- 
pany!^ 

The shrewd reader will observe at once that as soon as 
this " plan " of Colonel Duer's, in which "many of the 
principal characters in America were concerned," was 
broached and acceded to by Dr. Cutler there was a mar- 
vellous change in the attitude of Congress, and that not a 
paltry million and a half, but nearly five millions acres of 
land were sold the petitioners, and will be perhaps a little 
curious as to the nature of this "plan." 

The Doctor nowhere gives a hint as to its character, 
but from other sources we learn that it was substantially 
as follows : — 

1st. To purchase four and one half million acres of 
Government land, at $1 per acre.* Should the large sum 
required for its purchase not be readily obtained, it was 
thought that a loan on the land could be negotiated 
in Holland ; 2d. To sell the lands thus obtained in Europe 
to capitalists or actual settlers at an advanced price ; 
and, 3d. To employ an agent or agents for the purpose. 

In a few months this private speculation appeared, 
thoroughly organized and equipped, as The Scioto Land 
Company, with Col. William Duer as president; Richard 
Piatt, treasurer ; Andrew Craigie, formerly Apothecary- 
General of the Revolutionary army. Royal Flint, of New 
York, Gen. Rufus Putnam, of Connecticut, as trustees, 
and among its shareholders, " the principal characters in 
America." 

* Less TtZVi V^^ cent, for " bad land," surveying, etc. 



6o LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

An authentic history of the whole affair — except the 
negotiations with Congress — is given in the transfer from 
The Ohio Company to The Scioto Company of the residue 
of the grant, after the former's one million and a half 
of acres had been taken out. 

As tending to throw light on a very obscure portion of 
our early history, as well as for its important bearing on 
our hero's fortunes, a pretty full abstract of this instru- 
ment is presented. 

Its preamble recites that " Whereas, by the resolves 
of Congress of the 23d and 27th of July last, the Rev. 
Manasseh Cutler and Major Winthrop Sargent, for them- 
selves and associates, procured the right of preemption 
of a certain tract of the western territory of the United 
States, bounded as follows, viz. : A tract of land bounded 
by the Ohio, from the mouth of the Scioto River to the 
intersection of the western boundary of the seventh range 
of townships then surveying ; thence by the said boundary 
to the northern boundary of the tenth township from the 
Ohio ; thence by a due west line to the Scioto, thence by 
the Scioto to the beginning ; and whereas, in pursuance 
of the said resolves, the said Manasseh Cutler and Win- 
throp Sargent have, on the 27th of October instant, 
entered into a contract with the Honorable the Board of 
Treasury of the United States, as agents for the Directors 
of The Ohio Company of Associates, for the purchase of a 
certain portion of the above described tract of land — (a 
definition of the boundaries follows), — such as will, with 
the other lines of the said described tract, include one 
million and a half of acres of land, exclusive of certain 
reservations as specified in the said deed. And whereas 
the residue of the general tract, as described in the Act of 
Congress of the 23d of July last, remains wholly unap- 
propriated and is subject to the disposal of the said 
Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, who have accord- 
ingly entered into a contract for the purchase of the same 
on the 27th day of October instant with the Honorable 



JOEL BARLOW. 6l 

the Board of Treasury of the United States, describing in 
the said contract the boundaries of the said tract in the 
manner following, to wit : . . . the whole being the tract 
mentioned in the resolution of Congress of the 23d of 
July last, except what is contracted for by the said Ma- 
nasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, as agents for the 
directors of The Ohio Company and their associates. 

" Be it known that it is this day agreed between the said 
Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, for themselves 
and others their associates, and William Duer, of the 
State of New York, for himself and others his associates, 
their heirs and assigns, one equal moiety of the tract last 
described. Provided always that the respective parties 
to this writing shall be jointly and equally concerned in 
the disposal of the same, either in Europe or America, as 
circumstances will best admit of ; and that they share 
equally in any profit or loss which may accrue in attempt- 
ing to negotiate the sale or mortgage of the same, and in 
paying the purchase money due to the United States. 

"And it is hereby agreed upon and understood by the 
parties, that the property in the residue of the general 
tract as above described is to be considered as divided 
into thirty equal parts or shares, of which thirteen shares 
are the property of William Duer, in which he may ad- 
mit such associates as he may judge proper, and thirteen 
shares in like manner the property of the said Manasseh 
Cutler and Winthrop Sargent. That the other four 
shares may be disposed of in Europe at the direction of 
an agent, to be sent there for the purpose of negotiating 
a sale or loan as above mentioned, and if not so disposed 
of to be equally divided among the parties to this writ- 
ing. It is further agreed that the said William Duer be, 
and he hereby is, fully authorized and empowered to 
negotiate a loan on, or sale of, the above lands in Holland 
or such other parts of Europe as may be found expedient, 
with power of appointing an agent under him in the said 
negotiation, agreeably to such instructions as he may 



62 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

receive for such purpose. Provided always, and it is 
hereby understood and agreed on between the parties, 
that the said William Duer shall from time to time (when 
so required) make known and communicate to the said 
Winthrop Sargent and Manasseh Cutler the progress of 
the said negotiation and the correspondence and instruc- 
tions relative thereto. And it is also agreed between the 
said parties that Royal Flint be, and is agreed on by the 
said parties, as the present agent for undertaking the pro- 
posed negotiation, under the superintendence of the said 
William Duer, and that if, from the death of the said 
Flint or other circumstances, it may be proper to appoint 
another agent for the purposes above stated, the person so 
appointed shall be agreed on by the said Manasseh Cutler 
and Winthrop Sargent and William Duer. And whereas 
the whole benefit of the preemption of the residue of the 
land as above described may depend on the punctual 
payment on the part of The Ohio Company of our moiety 
of the purchase-money of the tract contracted for in their 
behalf, it is hereby agreed that the said William Duer 
shall (if it be found necessary) advance, on account of the 
said contract, one hundred thousand dollars, provided that 
whatever sum so paid in by the said William Duer shall 
exceed thirty thousand dollars shall be reimbursed to 
the said Duer out of the first moneys which the said Sar- 
gent and Cutler may receive for subscriptions." 

This instrument was signed on the 29th of October, 
1787. 

Royal Flint does not seem to have acted in the capac- 
ity of agent. Brissot, the traveller, and a Major Roche- 
fontaine, in France, with a man named Parker, in England, 
appear to have made some effort to sell the Company's 
lands, but without success. Andrev/ Craigie writes from 
England to William Duer about the Company's affairs in 
August, 1787, probably as agent, and adds, " Let silence 
cover our transactions." In the spring of 1788, however, 
the trustees decided on more energetic efforts ; they were 



JOEL BARLOW. ^2 

desirous of sending a responsible, thoroughly efficient 
agent abroad, and what seems at first sight inexplicable, 
their choice fell on Joel Barlow. He had then discov- 
ered no aptitude for business, and possessed no business 
experience ; yet a moment's reflection convinces one that 
the astute managers acted with reason. No American 
was more popular in England or France at that day, and 
none better calculated to win confidence — a prime requi- 
site in conducting negotiations such as they were engaged 
in. That his brother-in-law (Abraham Baldwin) was now 
a Senator in Congress had perhaps its due weight. Duer, 
as appears by a letter from Richard Piatt to Barlow, was 
not heartily in favor of the appointment, and, as Barlow 
afterward charged, was unfriendly to him from the begin- 
ning. The poet himself seems to have readily consented. 
It offered a chance of bettering his fortunes, then at a low 
ebb, and would give opportunities of travel, while it would 
not wholly rob him of literary leisure. It is not probable 
that the full scope of the Company's designs were dis- 
closed to him, while the patriotic considerations advanced 
— the sale of the Government's land and the promotion of 
emigration — must have appealed powerfully to one of his 
ardent, patriotic temperament. However this may be, 
he accepted the trust. Leaving his wife with her brother 
Dudley, now a lawyer at Greenfield Hill, he arranged his 
affairs with the Company, and on the 25th of May, 1788, 
embarked at New York on a French packet for his new 
scene of labor. Before sailing, he wrote a letter to Mat- 
thew Carey, the Philadelphia publisher,* which furnishes 
interesting data as to the fortunes of " The Vision of 
Columbus." The letter is as follows : 

" Mr. Hazard showed me a letter, in which you request 
him to apply to me on the subject of reprinting my 
poem. As I mentioned to you some time since, I have 

* Author of the " Vindicise Hibernicse," of which Archbishop Troy, of Dub- 
lin, said : " It has done more to vindicate Ireland than all that ever was 
written or published on the subject." 



64 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



part of the second edition on hand in sheets, which I wish 
to dispose of, that I may not lose money by the work — for 
I expect not to make any. One hundred of the copies I 
designed for Philadelphia and its neighborhood, by which 
I mean all the Middle States south of this place. To ac- 
commodate us both, I will now send you, by the first ves- 
sel, this hundred copies, which if you will receive and 
account for to Mr. Hazard at three shillings Penn. cur- 
rency, you have my full consent to publish one impres- 
sion as numerous as you please, and as soon as you please, 
besides inserting it in the Museum. They have never 
been sold at less than half a dollar in sheets and a dollar 
bound, and they will not be sold at less this way. None 
of the first edition were ever offered for sale south of 
Philadelphia, and none of the second between New York 
and Charleston, and I shall send no more to the south- 
ward of this except two dozen to Baltimore." 

The young envoy bore, besides numerous letters of 
introduction to noblemen and men of letters abroad, an 
instrument by which William Duer nominated him agent 
of The Scioto Company in Europe, " to undertake and con- 
clude such engagements with such bodies or such individ- 
uals as he shall judge the most suitable for the interest of 
the Company in disposing of the territory they have ac- 
quired of the United States altogether, or of whatever 
part of said territory, or to bind it for whatever sum he 
shall judge suitable." Duer also promised and engaged, 
for himself, in the name of the Company, to ratify and 
confirm all engagements that his agent should make in 
virtue of the powers delegated. This paper was dated 
May i6, 1788, and was signed by William Duer in the 
names of the associates of The Scioto Company. He bore 
also a transfer to himself, from Cutler and Sargent, of one 
sixtieth part of The Scioto Company's lands, and also one 
fifty-second part of eight sixtieth parts of the same tract, 
in case the above mentioned fractional parts were not dis- 
posed of in Europe, — he agreeing to bear his proportion- 



JOEL BARLOW. ge 

ate share of the loss, if such should arise, either from the 
negotiation of the tract in Europe or America, or from a 
failure to pay the purchase-money to Congress. He also 
bore a transfer from Duer to him of one sixtieth of the 
tract, with the same penalties attached, so that he was in 
effect an associate of the Company, with his fortunes em- 
barked in the enterprise as much as those of any other 
member. 

The name of the packet that bore the young envoy on 
his mission is not given, but we have in ^^his journal an 
entertaining description of the vessel with the minutiae 
of the voyage. Modern travellers will relish these details 
of a sea voyage in 1788. 

" Our accommodations on board were wretched. The 
ship was a sixteen-gun frigate, taken from the English 
during the late war, and is very unfit for a packet. The 
dining-room is small but tolerable, the cabins which we 
sleep in are wretched little dark holes, six feet and a half 
in length, three in breadth, and five in height, without air 
and intolerably dirty. The inside had been formerly lined 
with calico instead of paper ; this, by being sufficiently 
tattered and dirtied, has become a commodious receptacle 
for bedbugs and fleas, which are found here in the greatest 
plenty and perfection. Indeed, I could not help remark- 
ing to a fellow-passenger that the Count de Buffon, when 
he drew the comparison between the European and Amer- 
ican animals, must have had his eye upon the fleas ; for 
taking those on board the ship as a sample of this species 
of European animals (and they are doubtless either French 
or English, as the ship has been owned by no other na- 
tions), it appears that the European flea is at least heavier 
by one third of a grain than that of America. This re- 
mark I should not venture to make in this serious journal 
did I not find it confirmed by subsequent observations 
made on shore. I am now in the fourth loft of the Hotel 
de rArgled'or, in Havre, where the true French flea, as well 
as bedbug, grows to a most respectable size, and gives 
S 



66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

great countenance to the philosophy of the above men- 
tioned author. Captain Rolland is extremely parsimo- 
nious in his provisions and barbarously inattentive to his 
passengers. We had, indeed, plenty of live-stock, such as 
sheep and poultry ; he had salted beef and pork, but not 
good ; he had smoked hams, but they were dry, hard, and 
very salt ; I believe not more than half of one ham v/as 
eaten on board, though it was brought to the table at 
least forty times. In the article of cheese he was still 
more fortunate ; his store in this consisted of the half of 
one which was made of goats' milk ; this, he often assured 
/ us, was good, and had it at table twice a day the whole 
/ passage. I am sure not two ounces of it were consumed. 
/ He had plenty of bad Bordeaux wine and some Madeira, 

but he had no tea, coffee, chocolate, nor loaf-sugar ; no 
beer, cider, nor biscuit. His flour, of which he often 
boasted that he gave us fresh bread every morning, was 
originally made in France, but having been badly put up, 
and that a long time before, it was become intolerably 
musty. I never ate a single mouthful of this bread the 
whole passage. The sailors' hard bread, which was baked 
in France six months ago, was more palatable. Of this I 
probably consumed two pounds during the voyage. The 
regulations of the French packets require the captain to 
furnish the table, for which he receives one half the passage 
money. This furnishes a strong temptation to him to 
confine his provisions to cheap articles, or at least to such 
as suit his own palate, and Rolland is a proper man to 
make his advantage of these regulations. When we 
engaged our passage and paid our money, we were told 
that every article of good living was furnished ; we need 
give ourselves no trouble, but depend on the best possible 
accommodations. When the ship was nearly ready to 
sail we found there was no provision made for lodging. 
The captain told us it would be very unbecoming in him 
to offer a gentleman a mattress and sheets that had been 
used by others ; it was therefore customary for every pas- 



JOEL BARLOW. 67 

senger to find his own. This position we subscribed to 
and furnished ourselves with lodging, at the same time 
secretly praising his sagacity in discovering that, as these 
articles would be useless to a land traveller, not being 
worth putting to auction in a foreign? country, they would 
probably be left on board ; by these means a large quantity 
of useful furniture would soon accumulate, to the great 
benefit of the captain. Aside from this consideration 
Rolland's argunient would as well apply to every tavern- 
keeper as to the captain of a packet. Several days after 
the ship was to have sailed, having waited for a wind, we 
discovered by mere accident the real state of the captain's 
stores, and we took a hasty opportunity to purchase a 
little tea, coffee, and sugar. But fresh flour, biscuit, cheese, 
beer, vegetables, etc., were omitted. But the worst cir- 
cumstance about the provisions was the manner of cook- 
ing. The table was set at ten o'clock and at four, and 
the captain had no idea that any person, sick or well, 
could eat at any other hours or fail to eat at those. His 
dishes at four o'clock were, first, strong pea-soup, thick 
with musty bread, garlic, and onions ; second, mutton, 
fowls, or turkey, roasted in the pot or baked in the oven, 
stiff with garlic and onions and covered deep in melted 
butter. No other vegetables, except a few potatoes, which 
lasted about half the voyage, and these were brought to the 
table cut to pieces and stewed in butter-and-fat. The 
breakfasts were the relics of these dishes, sometimes warm 
and sometimes cold, together with a mutton cutlet stewed 
in butter, fat, and onions. I rarely sat at table and made 
no complaint of his dishes, as all food was alike indifferent 
to me ; but the other passengers, refusing one dish after 
another, ought to have induced him, sometimes, at least, 
to consult their appetite respecting the choice of food 
and the mode of cooking. But nothing of this was ever 
heard of: if a person would eat with him it was well ; if 
not, he would praise the meat and eat it himself. I 
endeavored many times to get some chicken or mutton 



68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

broth, but the cook could not possibly be taught to make 
it. Much of my vexation arose from the ignorance or 
obstinacy of the cook, but I suspect his conduct arose in 
part from another motive : he might fear that by oblig- 
ing me he should disoblige his master. . . . On approach- 
ing Havre I was presented with the first clear view of 
the Old World. The first thing that strikes an American 
eye is a certain air of antiquity, which renders every object 
venerable. Not a tree on the coast but what seems to 
have furnished colonies from its branches, as they are 
generally trimmed and taught to grow in a particular 
manner to answer some purpose of the owner." 

The packet arrived at Havre on the 24th of June. In 
the diary, kept with considerable particularity for the 
first four months of his stay abroad, there is little refer- 
ence to his mission or its results. He went first to Paris, 
thence to London, where he met Mr. Parker, a former 
agent, and probably, associate of the Company. He was 
not long in discovering that the times were very inau- 
spicious for his mission. All Europe was in a ferment. 
The Turks were battling against the Russians ; the 
Swedes had just begun a war for the recovery of their 
possessions in Finland ; England was engrossed with the 
trial of Warren Hastings and the conduct of her East 
Indian affairs, and France was within a year of the Revo- 
lution. There was, too, a scarcity of money and a general 
distrust of new enterprises, especially in England, which 
had been overrun with agents from her dependencies with 
all sorts of schemes and speculations to offer. They left 
London for Brussels on the 7th of September to consult 
the Messrs. Van Staphorsts, of Amsterdam, on " business 
about the lands," presumably to negotiate a loan on 
them. No hint is given as to the result of this mission. 
From Amsterdam Barlow returned to Paris, and at once 
seriously addressed himself to the object of his mission. 
He employed to assist him in the enterprise two agents, 
an Englishman, named William Playfair, whose chief 



JOEL BARLOW. 6q 

recommendation was that he spoke and wrote French 
perfectly, and was well acquainted with the Gallic tem- 
perament ; and a mercurial Frenchman, named La Chaise 
de Soissons. In both, as the sequel proved, he showed 
himself a poor judge of character. To these two agents 
was delegated largely the work of securing emigrants, 
while the principal addressed himself to the task of enlist- 
ing the nobility and wealthier classes. The prospectus 
and maps of the lands which had been prepared by the 
directors of the Company in America seem to have been 
misleading documents, and with the additions which 
Playfair and De Soissons undoubtedly gave in translating, 
almost reached the point of misrepresentations. Volney, 
in his " View of all Nations," gives what he calls "speci- 
men extracts," as follows: 

"A climate wholesome and delightful, frost even in 
winter almost entirely unknown, and a river called by 
way of eminence ' The Beautiful,' and abounding in 
excellent fish of a vast size ; noble forests, consisting of 
trees that spontaneously produce sugar and a plant that 
yields ready-made candles ; venison in plenty, the pursuit 
of which is uninterrupted by wolves, foxes, lions, or 
tigers. A couple of swine will multiply themselves a 
hundred fold in two or three years without taking any 
care of them. No taxes to pay, no military services to 
be performed." These seductive circulars were distrib- 
uted extensively throughout France, but particularly in 
Paris. Of their effect Volney gives what we must believe 
an exaggerated picture : " In France — in Paris," he says, 
" the imagination was too heated to admit of doubt or 
suspicion ; and people were too ignorant and uninformed 
to perceive where the picture was defective and its colors 
too glaring. The example, too, of the wealthy and 
reputedly wise confirmed the popular delusion. Nothing 
was talked of in every social circle but the Paradise that 
was opened for Frenchmen in the western wilderness, the 
free and happy life to be led on the banks of the Scioto. 



rjQ LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

At length Brissot * published his ' Travels ' and com- 
pleted the flattering delusion ; buyers became numerous 
and importunate, chiefly among the better sort of the 
middle class. Single persons and whole families disposed 
of their all, flattering themselves with having made ex- 
cellent bargains." 

Barlow was equally successful with the higher orders. 
It is safe to say, perhaps, that the young poet became 
one of the lions of the capital. Jefferson, then Minister 
to France, received him kindly, endorsed his mission, 
and presented him to the eminent men in letters, divinity, 
and the nobility who then adorned the French Court. 
He wrote in his journal of dining on several occasions 
with the Marquis de Lafayette. At Calais he regrets 
the absence of the Count de Rochambeau, Governor of 
the town, because he " is addressed to him by General 
Washington." His reputation, as well as his connections, 
admitted him to the choicest circles of French society. 
The only data we have of his operations in Paris are given 
in his letters to Colonel Duer and others interested. On 
the 29th of November, 1789, he writes the former that a 
contract for the sale of three million acres had been en- 
tered into with a French company, the price being six 
livres the acre. The object of this company, he says, is 
an immediate settlement by the sale of portions to indi- 
viduals and by sending cultivators in the name of the 
Company, and he informs Duer that a colony will be 
ready to sail in January for Alexandria, Va., at the 
head of which, he thinks, will be Major General Dupon- 
tail and Major Rochefontaine. As the reports which 
these emigrants might be expected to send back to 
France would make or mar the enterprise, he entreated 
that every exertion should be made by the Company to 
fulfil its promises to them, and suggested that " a person 
of activity " be sent from their proposed settlement to 

* " New Travels in America," Paris, 1791. English edition, London, 
1794. 



JOEL BAELOW. j7I 

Alexandria, " to make all the preparations on the route 
and at the fort for their reception and journey to the 
Scioto, and to wait at Alexandria to conduct them 
thither." It is, he adds, "an immense undertaking to 
the poor creatures who adventure in it ; a situation in 
which all the passions are alive to the slightest impres- 
sions. They who lead the way trust their lives and 
fortunes to the representations that I make to them. 
The evidence is slight ; it will be strengthened or de- 
stroyed in the minds of those who are still to be engaged 
by the testimony of those who first arrive. If the first 
one hundred persons should find things easy and agree- 
able as it is in our power to make them with a little atten- 
tion, the stream of emigration will be irresistible — 20,000 
people will be on those lands in eighteen months and our 
payments will be made in twelve. Do, my friend, exercise 
your rapid imagination for a moment in writing to those 
gentlemen — the subject lies with weight on my mind ; it 
is, though small, one of the most essential services that 
now remain to be done. Whenever you shall know the 
complication of difficulties I have struggled with in bring- 
ing the unwieldy business thus far, you will excuse the 
warmth of my entreaties, and believe that they are 
founded on the maturest reflections, as well as on the 
most ardent desire to serve the interests of the concern." 
But, alas! what Barlow most desired to have done the 
Company failed to do. Indeed, before this first shipload 
of emigrants arrived at Alexandria its affairs had become 
almost desperate. Circumstances seemed to conspire to 
render this nicely planned, most promising speculation a 
failure. The efforts to negotiate a loan failed ; conse- 
quently, when the date of preemption arrived the 
Company was unable to pay the sum fixed, and thus 
acquire a title to the lands. Other difficulties, too, beset 
it. The hostility of the Indians, whose camp-fires en- 
circled its purchase, prevented its surveys and clearings 
from being made, and any considerable stream of settlers 



^2 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



from flowing in ; and in France the outbreak of the 
Revolution, in 1789, precluded its agent from forming 
new contracts, or indeed from collecting the moneys due 
on those already made. The body of emigrants referred 
to sailed late in the December of 1789 and arrived safely 
at Alexandria, Va., whence they soon set out under the 
care of an agent of the Company for their homes in the 
West. They did not go, however, to the lands they had 
bargained for. The Scioto Company had failed to se- 
cure a title to them, though it made desperate efforts. 
A petition to Congress to extend the time of making 
payment was denied, ugly rumors of the ulterior designs 
of the Company having by this time reached that 
body. In this strait The Scioto Company entered into 
an agreement with The Ohio Company, by which a tract 
of some 196,544 acres in the latter's purchase was ceded 
the former, The Scioto Company agreeing to pay the 
original price, and to give as security their interest in 
their original purchase. It was on this purchase on the 
Ohio, four miles below the mouth of the Kanawha, that 
the colony of emigrants was planted, their settlement 
having now blossomed into the flourishing town of 
Gallipolis. But, as it proved, The Scioto Company was 
unable to pay even for this small purchase, and as, on its 
failure to do so, the land reverted to The Ohio Company, 
the unfortunate Frenchmen again found themselves with- 
out a title. In this strait they petitioned Congress for re- 
lief, and that body, in 1795, meted out to them tardy justice 
by granting them 24,000 acres on the Ohio above the 
mouth of the Scioto, which is still known as the " French 
grant." This was the end of a most disreputable business. 
There are documents in existence which would give a 
much, more complete expos^ of the whole affair, but as 
no possible good could come of such an exposure it is 
perhaps better that they should remain unwritten history. 
Colonel Duer, who figures most prominently in the matter, 
but who was probably no deeper in the mire than his 



JOEL BARLOW. y^ 

associates, was heartlessly abandoned by them when the 
failure of the affair became certain, was bankrupted in fort- 
une and reputation by it, and died broken-hearted soon 
after its collapse. Much of the odium of the Company's 
failure was cast on Joel Barlow, who was well known as 
its agent abroad. That he was innocent of any com- 
plicity in its inception, or in the glowing promises to 
emigrants and capitalists never fulfilled, or in any way 
responsible for its failure, is not proven by the papers 
above mentioned. That he established his innocence to 
the satisfaction of the people of France is evidenced by 
the esteem and respect in which he continued to be held 
there. It is also proper to state that Col. Benjamin 
Walker, who, in the fall of 1790, was sent to France by 
the trustees to investigate Barlow's proceedings, re- 
turned a report completely exonerating him. The poet 
himself, in various letters to his wife and to Abraham 
Baldwin, complains that he was practically abandoned by 
his associates in America almost immediately on reaching 
his post, and intimates that his conversion to repub- 
licanism may have had something to do in influencing 
their action. 

The reader is not to suppose that affairs of the Com- 
pany solely occupied the poet's attention during this 
period. There was considerable literary activity, care- 
ful study, some travel and intercourse with the most 
learned and polished minds of Europe. It will be proper 
to return somewhat in our narrative, and, by means of 
his journal and letters, present this phase of his career 
more at length. This journal clearly indicates his prac- 
tical bent and his very considerable powers of observa- 
tion. His eyes are always open. He is a true American, 
too, and compares everything with his own country. 
His naive comments are always interesting, often amus- 
ing. He describes Havre at length, and naively com- 
pares the Maison de la Ville with the City Hall of New 
York, to the disadvantage of the latter ; he even thinks it 



74 L^PE ^^D LETTERS OF 

would compare favorably with the State House at Phil- 
adelphia. Two days after landing he dines with the 
Swedish consul, Mr. Reinecke. The conversation at din- 
ner seems to have been largely on the commerce and 
manufactures of Gottenburg, for a full description of 
both follows in the journal, with the query " Cannot the 
Americans undersell them in all foreign markets?" On 
Friday, the 27th, he notes : " I dined with Messrs. Col- 
low, Fr^res, Carmichael & Co., having been addressed by 
my friend Commodore Nicholson, of New York." And 
again, on Sunday, " I dined with Mr. Carmichael at his 
own house. This gentleman does great justice to the 
expectation of his friend Nicholson." June 30th he 
writes : " To-morrow we set out for Paris. My company 
are, Mr. Jacobson, Mr. Alsot — who is another merchant 
from Gottenburg — and Master George Washington 
Greene, a son of General Greene, twelve years old, who 
goes to Paris for his education, being addressed to the 
Marquis de Lafayette." The party travelled by carriage 
and arrived at Paris July 3d. He describes at length the 
roads, the country, the vehicles, the people, and the 
three different modes of travelling — by diligence, by 
carriage, and on horseback — comparing them with the 
American stage, much to the latter's disadvantage, and 
observes at the close, " Travelling in France, and, I 
believe, in any part of Europe, is really a science." He 
describes the manufactures of the various towns he 
passes through. The old church of Notre Dame at 
Rouen attracted him. " Nothing gives me more pleas- 
ure in these old places," he records, " than the contempla- 
tion of their Gothic cathedrals. The style of building 
is so totally unlike what can be seen or ever will be seen 
in America, that it is impossible to form the least idea 
of it but by the eye. This church struck me with such 
an air of solemnity and magnificence, and as being so 
much larger than any I had before seen, that I should 
have taken the dimensions of every part were it not 



JOEL BARLOW. 75 

that I expected to see those that were larger and more 
worthy of notice at Paris and London. I spent some time 
in it, and even went up to see the bell, which, they tell 
me, is the largest in Europe. This I had no right to 
believe ; and when the guide told me that it weighed 
40,000 pounds, it only induced me to take its dimensions 
that I might calculate its weight at my leisure." He 
had half a day in the city, and spent it in visiting several 
nunneries, churches, the bridge over the Seine, and other 
" capital places." The nuns, he observes, " from their 
white robes, black veils, the simplicity of their other 
ornaments, and their modesty of deportment, have the 
appearance of great serenity and innocence." At the 
Hotel de France, just as he is quitting the town, he meets 
the two Mr. Appletons, from Boston. "They are con- 
nected with a Mr. Pew, an ingenious Scotch chemist, 
who has discovered a method of converting the common 
whale-oil into a substance not distinguishable from the 
head matter of the spermaceti whale. The profits of 
the business are immense. The Appletons expect to 
make their fortunes in it." He also notes, as the inven- 
tion of a mechanic of Rouen, a machine for carding cot- 
ton which divides the wool much more perfectly than 
any that have yet been used, and adds: " I do not find 
that extreme wretchedness and poverty among the lower 
class of people in France that I had been taught to 
expect." He makes no record of his first visit of nine 
days to Paris. July 12th he set out with Mr. Parker for 
England via Boulogne, travelling by post-chaise. They 
reached London July 14th at midnight. He views Eng- 
land through an enemy's glasses, yet his criticisms are 
not unfair. July 31, 1788, he notes: "This day, in com- 
pany with Mr. Tod, a Scotch gentleman, Mr. Jarvis, an 
American, a Frenchman and an Englishman whose 
names I forget, I visited that ancient and renowned 
fortress the Tower of London." His criticisms on the 
figures of the English kings are piquant and amusing. 



76 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



"In another large apartment .... are figures of most 
of the English kings from William I. to George II., sit- 
ting on horseback as large as life, and actually clad in 
the armor which they wore. The figures are said to be 
likenesses : probably all the late ones are. Many of 
them will disappoint you. Edward III. is a thin 
old man ; has nothing of the appearance of a warrior. 
William III. is a very small man. Many others are as I 
expected. Edward IV. is as handsome a fellow as you 
will find him in the history of Jane Shore. Henry VIII. 
is the largest in the race of kings, and John of Gaunt is 
the stoutest man by far that I ever saw. ... I was dis- 
appointed in the appearance of the beasts kept in the 
Tower, as I am with almost all other objects in Europe 
of which I have formerly met with descriptions." The 
old castle, the centre of the Tower, he describes as about 
the size of Fort Putnam at West Point. 

Other jottings from the journal follow: 

" Azi^. I. Went with my friend Cutting to see Sir 
Appleton Lever's Museum. It is contained in a large 
house near Black Friars Bridge. Sir Appleton is dead, 
and the Museum is now kept and shown by his succes- 
sors. It is a most magnificent collection of birds and 
beasts, preserved with great neatness, and so as to re- 
semble the life, with a variety of other curiosities, nat- 
ural and artificial 

" We spent about two hours in the different rooms, 
with a satisfaction much beyond my expectations. We 
dined with Mr. George Howel, from America. At din- 
ner were Mr. Trumbull, Mr. Cutting, Colonel Blount, 
of North Carolina, Mr. Sears, of Boston, and Dr. Muir- 
son, of New York." 

*' Ati^. 2. I dined with Mr. Caldwell, and went with 
him in the evening to Vaux Hall." Then follows a de- 
scription of that noted resort as it appeared in 1788: 
" It is a garden of about 200 yards square. The bor- 
ders on two sides are a wilderness. The rest is laid out 



JOEL BARLOW. yj 

in a great number of walks, some covered with elliptical 
arches of wood adorned with paintings, others arched 
with lofty elms. Near the centre is a grand orchestra, 
in which a band of music performs all the evening. 
Near one corner is a rotunda or a circular hall, 70 feet 
in diameter and about 40 in height, adorned with paint- 
ings. On two sides of the garden are disposed a great 
number of boxes for parties to sup in. The whole of 
this highly ornamented area is illuminated in the even- 
ing with upwards of 2000 lamps, disposed in such a man- 
ner as to have the most happy effect upon the spectator, 
causing a surprising degree of brilliance in the upper part 
next the orchestra, the rotunda, and the boxes, and leav- 
ing many long alleys and winding walks faintly illumi- 
nated, and others almost dark, exhibiting in a most 
romantic manner numbers of statues, obelisks, trans- 
parent paintings, etc. These gardens are open only on 
summer evenings in fine weather. The company is very 
numerous and brilliant. I should judge at least two 
thousand people were in the garden this night. They 
pay a shilling entrance." 

^^ Aug. 4. Mr. Parker and myself have been to dine 
with Mr. Rogers at Twickenham." The gardens and 
grotto of Pope he declares to be the most delightful 
little spot he ever saw. " This is an area of about a 
dozen acres, fringed with a wilderness which hides the 
wall on the inside, and planted with a vast variety of 
trees of the thickest foliage, placed in the most natural 
and unaffected position that can be imagined. The 
whole is in the truest English style of gardening, rather 
more solemn and gloomy than what is common, but per- 
fectly in harmony with the turn of mind that most dis- 
tinguished the planter. The trees are all said to have 
been planted by Mr. Pope's own hand, and what is much 
to the credit of Sir Weldbare Ellis, the present owner, 
and his father-in-law, Mr. Stanhope, the late owner, not 
a single tree has been violated nor a new one added 



78 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



since the death of Mr. Pope. The garden is perfectly 
well kept, clean and neat, and everything remains pre- 
cisely as the poet left it, excepting that the statues, 
obelisks, and urns have grown rusty by time, and the 
trees larger." "None of the temples and palaces of 
Europe," he continues, "have forced themselves upon 
me with such silent veneration and respect as I felt on 
entering the simple gardens of Pope. Perhaps the idea 
of the poet might help to make the impression, but to 
my eye there is as much real taste discovered here as in 
any of his writings. His grotto exceeds all description, 
except the one given by him in a letter to a friend whose 
name I forget. The subterraneous passage that this 
affords from the waters of the Thames to the gardens 
has a most surprising effect upon the spectator. It goes 
under the house, which is an elegant one, and under the 
road, which is a public one and much travelled. No 
traveller in the road would ever mistrust that there was 
a garden or a grotto here." 

He watches a famous English election with the deep- 
est interest, and thus records his impressions: "This 
day (August 4) ended the long contested Westminster 
election. It has lasted 15 days, and a scene of more 
curiosity to an American cannot well be exhibited. . . . 
Mr. Fox and Lord Hood were the members for West- 
minster. Hood is lately created a Lord of the Admir- 
alty. His acceptance of this office vacates his seat in 
Parliament, but leaves him again eligible. Hood; being 
a ministerial man, was opposed in his re-election by Fox 
and his party, who set up Lord John Townsend. It 
was astonishing to behold the whole nation, from the 
king to the cobbler, engaged in this business. It was 
really no less than a contest between Charles Fox and 
George the Third, and to the satisfaction of every dis- 
interested beholder, the former has won the day and 
Townsend is elected. On this occasion the Treasury 
was opened, and orders were drawn directly on it for the 



JOEL BARLOW. yg 

expense on the royal side. It is computed that the 
money spent on the king's side was 30,000 pounds ; that 
on the opposition actually 20,000. Of this latter sum 
the Whig Club subscribed 10,000 pounds beforehand, 
and on the tenth day of the election, finding there would 
be a lack of money, the Duke of Bedford drew on his 
banker for 5000, and sent word that 50,000 more would 
be at the service of the opposition if needed. The other 
5000 is supposed to have come from the Prince of Wales, 
and others less open in the cause of the opposition. 
This extraordinary expense will not appear strange when 
it is known that the simple article of ribbons for the 
cockades of the Townsend party cost 4000 pounds ; that 
about 100 'bludgeon-men,' as they are called, were hired 
at five shillings per day to out-mob the mob upon the 
other side, and that two thirds of the voters (the whole 
of which in this poll were 12,000) were actually paid for 
their votes. Add to this that, for 15 days, 200,000 peo- 
ple are constantly kept in an uproar. Not a tradesman, 
if he is disposed, can carry on business, for he is every 
day haunted by both parties, and his journeymen every 
day drunk for the honor of the candidates. Several 
persons have been killed on the spot, and many more 
languish under broken heads or legs, and it was as much 
as a man's pockets were worth to come within 200 yards; 
of the hustings. The way of conducting the business is 
for the canvass to begin some time before the election 
begins and continue till it is closed. The first nobility 
of both sexes employ themselves in canvassing : they go 
to every house, stall, shop, and dock-yard and solicit the 
vote and interest of every person in favor of their can- 
didate. Then comes a card in the newspapers request- 
ing the voters in such a street or parish to breakfast with 
such a duke or lord and proceed with him to the polls. 
Thus he puts himself upon a level with the most ragged, 
vile, and worthless of creation, who move in a tumultuous 
procession through the streets, reeling and huzzaing, 



8o LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

with His Grace or the candidate at their head. The 
candidates meantime advertise in the papers their wishes 
to be elected, and request the votes and interest of all 
the worthy and independent electors in their favor. . . . 
When we hear, in common language, that such a duke 
sends i6 members to Parliament, and that such a gentle- 
man has bought a borough, what shall we think of the 
political freedom of this people. A gentleman of my 
acquaintance, who has been an eminent merchant, has 
lately bought a borough for ten thousand pounds — that 
is, he has obtained the right of securing the election of 
the two members of that borough on all future occasions. 
He proposes to return himself as one member and sell 
the other place for three hundred pounds each election. 
As these recur but once in seven years it must be con- 
sidered as a bad mercantile speculation unless there are 
secret profits' arising from the place." 

"■Aug. 5. I went, towards evening, with Mr. Vaughan 
to the Marquis of Lansdowne's, in Berkeley Square. He 
is the late minister. Lord Shelburne, who made peace 
with America. He is in the Whig interest, but is not 
a man of great abilities or influence. His house is one 
of the best in London. In the evening went to see Sir 
Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society. He is a 
large man, more able-bodied than philosophers in gen- 
eral are. He asked many questions about the prog- 
ress of the Hessian fly and weevil in America." 

"Aug. 19. Mr. Trumbull* and I have just returned 
from Windsor. . . . We went into church on Sunday, and 
Monday morning to prayers in the King's private chapel. 
The King is an active-looking man, light sandy hair and 
countenance, sanguine habit, stammers in his speech 
much as Peter Pindar has described. He is a man of 
great industry, uses much exercise, is said to possess all 
the private virtues in an eminent degree. He appears 

* John TrumbuU, the painter. 



JOEL BARLOW. 8l 

to have a quick intuitive faculty of discerning the human 
character. When his eye met mine I saw he marked 
me for a stranger, and I endeavored to outstare him, 
but in vain. ' Well ! ' thought I, ' a cat may look upon 
a king : by the same ascending scale a king may look 
upon me — and so, stare away.' The Queen is not hand- 
some, but has the look of a very amiable woman. The 
four eldest princesses are thought surprising beauties. 
They are certainly handsome." 

^^ Aug. 28. This day, at dinner at Mr. Dilley's, among 
several literary men, I met Dr. Gillies, author of the 
'History t)f Greece.' I had much conversation with 
him, in which he discovered great learning and good 
sense. He is now writing the ' Roman Republic' If 
he treats this history as well as he has that of Greece, 
no former history of that period need be read, and no 
future one written." 

'■'Aug. 30. Dined with Dr. Bancroft. I dine abroad at 
least six days in the week ; this, to a man of business, 
would be a bad economy of time, but for me it is the 
best way of collecting information, and does not interfere 
with other business." 

" Sep. 7. Left London this morning at 1 1 o'clock with 
Mr. Parker, on our way to Calais and Brussels." 

"Calais, Sept. 9. We are now as incontestably in France 
as ever Sterne was, and at the same hotel too, that of 
Mons. Dessein. It is old, large, and magnificent, but not 
remarkably cleanly. French cleanliness will never be- 
come proverbial except in the language of irony. . . . 
In crossing the Channel we found ourselves in company 
with several British officers, who are going to visit the 
camp at St. Omers. They are men of sense on every 
subject but that of America and the new government. 
We found, likewise, in the boat a young, well-dressed 
woman, travelling from London to the Austrian Flanders. 
There were so many tender things in her appearance that 
we were induced to ask her v/hether any gentleman pres- 
6 



g2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ent was to be honored with her company. Being an- 
swered in the negative, and at the same time modestly- 
informed that it was business of a most pressing nature 
of her father's, who was sick at London, which had em- 
boldened her to undertake the journey alone, we begged 
her to accept a seat in our chariot as far as our route will 
permit. This she blushingly accepted, and we shall have 
her company about one hundred and twenty miles, . . . 
Count de Rochambeau is governor of Calais, but he is 
out of town, which I regret, as I am addressed to him by 
General Washington." 

"■ Brussels y Sept. ii. This day we have travelled eighty 
miles and reached the capital of the Austrian Brabant. 
.... At ten this evening we entered Brussels. The gates 
of the city were shut. We sent a servant forward to an- 
nounce our names to the officer and bribe him to let us in, 
who, after asking the usual questions about contraband 
goods, consented to betray the great city to us for two 
German shillings, and we are handsomely lodged in the 
Hotel d' Holland^ where we stay about a week on busi- 
ness." 

'* Sept. 14. I have just returned from Antwerp, where 
I went yesterday for the sake, merely, of seeing the curi- 
osities of that justly celebrated place. . . ." 

" Sept. 23. Having finished all that can be done at 
present with the Van Staphorsts about the lands, I go 
to-morrow with Mr. Parker to Paris." 
U- " Cambray^ Sept. 24. We have rode to-day eighty miles, 
through a most excellent country. . . . This was the seat 
of Archbishop Fenelon, author of ' Telemachus.' His 
palace is magnificent, the cathedral rich." 

'■^ Paris, Sept. 26. I have done nothing to-day except 
pay my respects to Mr. Jefferson and the Marquis de 
Lafayette." 

" Sept. 27. I dined to-day at Mr. Jefferson's, where were 
the Marquis, Mr. Parker, and an Italian chevalier, whose 



JOEL BARLOW. 83 

name I never expect to remember, having been before 
in company with him sundry times." 

" Oct. 3. It has rained every day since I have been in 
Paris till to-day. I have been dining with the Marquis, 
where was much company, chiefly American. The Patri- 
ots in France, I find, are very sanguine in their expecta- 
tions that they shall effect a speedy and complete revolu- 
tion in the government and establish a free constitution. 
The States General will doubtless assemble, and the 
opinions of all parties that something must be done will 
go a great way towards effecting something." He then 
ventures some remarks that seem strongly prophetic in 
view of the events of the succeeding summer. 

" The government of France is in theory a despotism, 
but much softened in its administration by the respect 
which is paid to public opinion. I believe they have no 
written documents to prove that any class of the subjects 
have a right to any share in legislation, at least in legis- 
lating for the kingdom at large. Provincial rights they 
doubtless can prove ; but these are so variant and discor- 
dant that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to bring 
them into practice. This is the reason why these rights 
have gone into disuse. It has been necessary for the 
energy and entirety of the kingdom that it should all be 
thrown into a common mass, and that one system should 
pervade the whole. This system must of course be de- 
rived from one head, the civil, military, legislative, and 
executive all being united in one person. Hence it is 
that France, considered as a collection of provinces or a 
confederacy of states, is what she is called — a heterogene- 
ous mass. Considered as a kingdom, she is entire and ener- 
getic, but necessarily despotic. If the States General are 
composed of wise men they will consider that the small 
remnant of ancient provincial rights and the present 
opinions of the people are the materials with which they 
have to work in forming a constitution. As the former 
are variant and the latter variable it will be necessary to 



84 ^ LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

conciliate and soften, in order to impart to the people 
that portion of hberty which they can bear, and to impart 
to all alike. Such wisdom, and the necessary integrity to 
direct it, is hardly to be expected in a country like this. 
I presume there are not to be found five men in Europe 
who understand the nature of liberty and the theory of 
government so well as they are understood by five hun- 
dred men in America. The friends to America in Lon- 
don and Paris are astonished at our conduct in adopt- 
ing the New Constitution. They say we have given up 
all we contended for. They are as intemperate in their 
idea of liberty as we were in the year seventy-five." 

" Peronne, Oct. 4. To-day we have travelled one hun- 
dred miles, and find ourselves in an elegant hotel at six 
o'clock. We started after six in the morning. This way 
of travelling is very amusing, and not in the least fatigu- 
ing, provided your carriage is strong and good. We have 
our own courier, who rides on horseback and goes forward 
to get the horses ready at every stage. On all the great 
roads they give us good horses and good postilions, and 
in this way a man may travel eight miles an hour, day 
and night, for a week together if he chooses. All this 
business of posts in France is reduced to one system and 
farmed : it produces a revenue of 10,000,000 livres." 

Oct. loth he is at Dunkirk and makes a most interest- 
ing entry: "The French seem determined to enlarge 
their naval force, and to lay the foundation of its increase 
in the (whale) fishery. In the year 1783 a company was 
formed to establish that business at Dunkirk. After 
absorbing a considerable sum they applied to Govern- 
ment for assistance. Under the administration of Ca- 

lonne the Government supplied them with livres on 

loan, without interest, and agreed to take their oil at 
a high price. By bad management, it is said, they have 
failed, have sunk their own capital, and Government has 
either lost theirs or are determined to reclaim it. Mr. 



JOEL BARLOW. §5 

Rotch, from Massachusetts,* who is here, tells me he is 
now closing a contract with Government for carrying on 
the business upon a much larger scale. He has several 
vessels out this season. The King has now published an 
arret, prohibiting the importation of oil, except what is 
taken by French vessels. Rotch appears to be well ac- 
quainted with the business, and expects to make a large 
fortune in it. The former company have taken about 
700 tons in the Brazil fishery and very little in the Green- 
land." t The journal ends with his return to Paris, Oct. 
12, 1788. 

The succeeding six years were marked by active liter- 
ary employment, by intense activity in letters after 1790, 
when the failure of his embassy gave him more leisure, 
and indeed rendered him largely dependent on his pen 
for support. It was an age when, in France, the literati 
held their full measure of power. The philosophers of 
the preceding age, Fenelon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rous- 
seau, had lent the calling dignity. King and nobles 
patronized it ; politicians courted it. That little knot of 
thinkers and writers, — Lagrange, Laplace, Berthollet, 
Garat, Bernardin St. Pierre, Daubenton, Hauy, Volney, 
Sicard, Monge, Thouin, La Harpe, Buache, Mentelle, — 
who founded the Normal School and, later, the National 
Institute, were builders of a mighty power in the kingdom 
— the power of the press. Nearly all were politicians, — 
Republicans of the moderate, constitutional, Girondist 
school. These men precipitated the Revolution, and, it 
may be added, at once lost control of it, as one does of a 
frenzied steed which his spur has set in motion. Jeffer- 
son, who had been four years in Paris as ambassador, was 
in friendly intercourse with these savants, and by the 
simple act of introduction gave his young countryman an 
assured position in their circle. " Barlow found here con- 



* A famous Nantucket whaling merchant, 
t Mr. Rotch's enterprise also failed. 



A 



86 ^^^^ AND LETTERS OF 

genial companionship. Deep learning, original ideas, a 
wide range of observation, plans of the largest philan- 
thropy, he could appreciate, and these he found among 
the Girondist leaders of Paris. Just here his career 
assumes its most interesting phase. The Puritan lad, 
with generations of Puritan blood in his veins, brought up 
at the feet of Parson Bartlett, nurtured at Yale College — 
then the cradle of Federalism — bursts his chrysalis and 
appears in religion a liberal, in politics a pronounced 
Republican. It would be unjust to him to say that the 
change was produced solely by intercourse with the 
French literati. There is evidence in his letters that 
from youth up he had been dissatisfied with the iron- 
bound creed then in vogue. It chafed him, as the har- 
ness the spirited young colt. Tutor Buckminster sowed 
the seeds of this restiveness by permitting and en- 
couraging that spirit of free inquiry in his classes, of 
which he spoke in his letter, and although, later, Barlow 
preached in their pulpits and wrote the hymnal used in 
their worship, a reference in one of his letters from the 
camps indicates that the Association of Congregational 
ministers of Connecticut had refused to license him for 
the chaplaincy from doubts as to his orthodoxy, and that 
he had in consequence been examined by the Council at 
Northampton, Mass., and had received from them his 
authority. 

Politically we know he possessed all the elements of 
the Republican of the day, and awaited only an opportu- 
nity to leave the Conservative for the Progressive ranks. 
There is no evidence that he became a pronounced athe- 
ist, like some of his French compeers. He was hardly an 
apostate, although the charge was freely made against him 
by those of his old friends on this side the Atlantic who 
remained true to their early convictions, and whom his 
double desertion changed to bitter and calumniating ene- 
mies. But this will more fully appear in the sequel. 
Once enlisted, however, the young soldier engaged with 



JOEL BARLOW. 87 

ardor in the conflict : pamphlets, addresses, feuilletons in 
prose and verse, assailing royal and ecclesiastical privilege, 
poured from his pen in a constant stream, and he was 
soon recognized throughout Europe as one of the leaders 
of the Republican cause. He was in Paris at the birth 
of the fearful Revolution — the 14th of July, the 4th of 
August, the 5th of October — an interested but hopeful 
spectator. On the 20th of July he wrote his wife, still 
lingering in the rural shades of Greenfield Hill : " All the 
true things which you see published, however horrible, 
however cruel, however just, however noble, memorable, 
and important in their consequences, have passed under 
my eye, and it is really no small gratification to me to 
have seen two complete revolutions in favor of liberty. 
Everything is now quiet in Paris. I look upon the 
affairs of this nation as on the point of being settled on 
the most rational and lasting foundation. " He concludes : 
" Nothing but the contemplation of the infinite happiness 
that I am sure will result to millions of human beings 
from these commotions could enable me to tolerate the 
observance of them." 

After the failure of his special mission his time seems 
to have been pretty evenly divided between Paris and 
London. He was one of that body " of American citi- 
zens who, for commercial or pohtical traffic, or both," 
were " sometimes resident in England and sometimes in 
France," and wljo made up mainly the London Society 
for Constitutional Information. One not familiar with 
this period of English history in its minuter details can 
have little conception of the disquiet and state of ferment 
into which the nation was plunged by the French Revolu- 
tion. Societies whose chief objects were such amend- 
ments to the present constitution as would give annual 
sessions of Parliament and universal suffrage were formed 
in all the large cities of the kingdom. Pamphlets and 
broadsides advocating these " reforms " were sown broad- 
cast ; public meetings were held. A single petition to 



88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

this effect received 140,000 signers. In fact, the hberal 
movement shared with Warren Hastings the attention of 
Parliament, and elicited some of the finest efforts of those 
Commons giants, Burke, Sheridan, Fox, and Pitt. There 
were three important societies in London which favored 
the cause of the French Republicans, and lent them sym- 
pathy and substantial aid. These were, first, the " Revo- 
lution Society," originally formed to celebrate the anniver- 
sary of the landing of William III. and the famous revolu- 
tion of 1688, which established the British Constitution; 
second, the " Constitutional Society," which had a regular 
organization, held stated meetings, and was devoted to 
the dissemination of political writings favoring a change 
in the existing Constitution ; and third, a " Society of 
Constitutional Information," composed largely of Amer- 
icans, which we have already noticed. Dr. Price, the 
reputed author of Pitt's sinking-fund system ; Dr. 
Priestly, the learned and liberal Unitarian divine ; Home 
Tooke, the famous philosopher, political writer, and wit : 
Thomas Paine, Joel Barlow, Daniel Adams, John Frost, and 
Hayley the poet, and biographer of Cowper, were active 
members of these various organizations. All three socie- 
ties openly favored French Republicanism, and at various 
times sent '' Addresses " to the National Assembly. That 
from the American Society was written by Joel Barlow, 
and conveyed personally by himself and John Frost.* 
The greater part of the years 1790-92, however, were 
spent in London. His friends, the Girondists, had been 
overthrown by the Jacobins ; the lions had been sup- 
planted by the wolves, and residence in Paris for him was 
both unsafe and uncomfortable. He had made while in 
Paris extensive notes for a history of the French Revolu- 

* An English historian, referring to this mission, speaks of Barlow as " the 
laureate of the United States, the author \oi that not-to-be-forgotten epic 
wherein George Washington is typified by Joshua, and the free citizens of 
America and their expulsion of the English by the Jews and their conquest 
of the Holy Land.'* 



JOEL BARLOW. 



89 



tion, and he was also employed during this period in 
writing his caustic poetical squib, "The Conspiracy of 
Kings." His most important work, however, was a vol- 
ume of political essays entitled, "Advice to the Priv- 
ileged Orders." It appears by a note in the author's 
copy before us, that this book was finished in London in 
the latter part of the year 1791, and that the first part was 
published in that city in February, 1792. It is safe to say 
that no political work of the day created so wide an in- 
terest, or was so extensively read. Charles Fox, in Par- 
liament, passed a formal eulogium upon it. The British 
Government suppressed it and proscribed its author, even 
seized on his private letters as those of a suspect. " Mr. 
Burke often makes honorable mention of you in Parlia- 
ment," wrote Mrs. Barlow, ironically, in January, 1793, 
to her husband, hiding in Paris from British emissaries. 
" Sometimes he calls you a prophet — the prophet Joel. 
. . . ." And again: "Mr. Burke said that a citizen of 
the name of Joel Barlow, another of the name of John 
Adams, and Citizen Frost were engaged in this correspond- 
ence and were answerable." Jefferson, on receiving the 
volume, wrote its author from America: "Be assured 
that your endeavors to bring the transatlantic worid into 
the world of reason are not without their effect here." 
Sturdy old John Adams read it with attention, as is evi- 
denced by his reference to its heresies in his third letter 
on government to John Taylor in 18 14. The work which 
created such widespread interest was not an attack on 
religion and law, as the more bigoted at once declared it, 
but a trenchant, feariess attack on kingly and ecclesias- 
tical tyranny and abuses. Eight chapters, or essays, on 
the Feudal System, the Church, the Military, the Ad- 
ministration of Justice, Revenue and Public Expenditure, 
the Means of Subsistence, Literature, Science and Art, 
War and Peace, compose the work. The first four 
chapters were published in a separate volume, as we have 
seen, in 1792 ; the last four nearly a year later. There 



90 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



was that in the work to alarm and anger many classes. 
Besides a sharp arraignment of church * and priestly 
abuses, it bitterly attacked the feudal system, and espe- 
cially primogeniture. It exposed and held up to public 
ridicule the abuses, absurdities, and intricacies of English 
jurisprudence, and it was, we believe, the first publication 
to condemn capital punishment and the " lotteries, ton- 
tines, and annuities on separate lives," then so popular in 
Europe. Full on its heels the poet launched a sharper 
and more bitter philippic, this time in verse — *' The Con- 
spiracy of Kings." England, Holland, Naples, Sweden, 
and the German States had conspired to crush out Re- 
publicanism in France, and this coalition suggested the 
poem. 

" The Conspiracy of Kings " was more popular with the 
Whigs of England than the prose work. Its brevity — it 
contains less than 300 lines — made it easy of insertion in 
newspapers and broadsides, and it was quickly spread 
among all classes of readers, eliciting the hearty applause 
of the Liberal and the bitter condemnation of the Con- 
servative or Government party. 

From these political broils in which the poet's warm 
sympathies and pugnacious instincts involved him, it will 
be pleasant to turn aside, and even retrace our steps a 

*That no injustice may be done our author, we give his definition of the 
term " church " as he uses it : " From that association of ideas which usually 
connects the church with religion, I may run the risk of being misunder- 
stood by some readers unless I advertise them that I consider no connec- 
tion as existing between these two subjects, and that when I speak of 
' church ' indefinitely, I mean the government of a state assuming in the 
name of God to govern by divine authority, or, in other words, darkening 
the consciences of men in order to oppress them. In the United States of 
America there is, strictly speaking, no such thing as a church, and yet in no 
country are the people more religious. All sorts of religious opinions are 
entertained there, and yet no heresy among them all. All modes of worship 
are practised, and yet there is no schism. Men frequently change their creed 
and their worship, and yet there is no apostasy. They have ministers of re- 
ligion, but no priests. In short, religion is there a personal and not a corpo- 
rate concern." 



JOEL BARLOW. qI 

little, to consider his family relations. Barlow was so 
domestic in tastes and habits, and so tenderly attached to 
his wife, that the parting from her must have been the bit- 
terest feature of his self-imposed exile. As soon as it be- 
came apparent that his mission had failed, and that he 
would remain some time in Europe, he wrote in the ar- 
dent and impassioned strains of a lover, desiring her to 
join him in Paris at once. Mrs. Barlow, however, as was 
natural, demurred. She shrank with womanly dread 
from the long sea voyage alone, and the arrival among 
strangers. Aside from the absence of her husband, her 
life at Greenfield Hill, the most charming of rural retreats, 
with her brother as protector, the learned and poetic 
Dr. Dwight as pastor and friend, and a refined society 
at command, was all that could be desired. But Paris, to 
the average New England gentlewoman of that day, rep- 
resented all that was vile, lawless, licentious, papistical, 
and atheistical. Several letters from him, magnificent 
examples of special pleading, were necessary before she 
could be persuaded to undertake the journey. His di- 
rections how to come and what to provide for the voyage 
will read strangely to modern lady travellers. 

'* When you come to New York," he wrote, " you will 
see Mrs. Adams, the Vice-President's wife ; talk with her 
and Mrs. Smith, her daughter." " There are four cap- 
tains," he adds, "who follow the London trade and go 
twice a year, all of whom are the cleverest fellows in the 
world. They are much used to carrying passengers and 
ladies. They are acquainted with Prom (Abraham Bald- 
win) and me, and will treat you with all the attention, 
politeness, and kindness in the world. 2. You will find 
in New York, well recommended, a good maid who is 
used to the sea; take one with you, unless you find a 
female companion that you like, in which case you may 
do without a maid. 3. The captain will find all the 
customary provisions. Take on board besides, the 
following things (I mention them not because they are 



92 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



the most necessary, but because you would be most likely 
to omit them) : woollen stockings, a loose woollen gown, 
oat-meal, Indian-meal to make gruel, rice, chocolate, oil of 
peppermint, and some stomachic medicines — rhubarb or 
salts. 4. Give the captain a good price, even a double 
price, and bargain with him to see you lodged at the place 
I shall mention. If by contrary winds you should come 
into a port a little distant from London the captain will 
give you a coach and a companion. You will then go to 
the house of Mrs. Rogers, No. 18 King Street, Cheap- 
side, London." Then, if he was not there, she was to 
write to certain gentlemen, whose addresses he enclosed, 
who could advise her where he might be found. This 
plan was carried out. The lady sailed with a Captain 
Wolsey early in June, and arrived safely at Mrs. Rogers' ; 
but the errant husband was not there to meet her. In- 
stead, he wrote, saying that it was impossible for him to 
leave Paris under several days. 

One gains from the letters a very affecting picture of 
the scene that followed — the tears, bewailings, and home- 
sickness : not even the sympathy of a friend, a " charm- 
ing Connecticut lady," whom he had prevailed on to go 
to London " to meet her, and keep her laughing till he 
came," could allay the feeling of disappointment and 
wrong. 

In about three weeks, however, Mrs. Barlow, with her 
friend, Mrs. Blackden, passed over to Calais, where the 
husband met them, and the happy pair were reunited after 
two years' separation. They at once took up their abode 
in Paris. How did the young, piously reared, Puritan 
lady relish the gay capital, is a question that at once oc- 
curs to the reader. Fortunately, we have a letter from 
her to Mrs. Dr. Dwight, which answers it satisfactorily. 
When she had been in Paris about a month she wrote that 
lady : " O, it is altogether disagreeable to me. It is only 
existing. I have not an hour I can call my own except 
when I sleep. Must at all times be dressed and see com- 



JOEL BARLOW. q^ 

pany, which you know, my dear madam, is not to my 
taste. We are pent up in a narrow, dirty street surrounded 
with high brick walls, and can scarcely see the light of the 
sun. We have no Sabbath : it is looked upon as a day 
of amusement entirely. O, how ardently do I wish to re- 
turn to America, and to Greenfield, that dear, delightful 
village." The city became more tolerable, however, as 
time passed. 

The bright, pretty Connecticut girl soon found that 
she did not appear to disadvantage, as she had feared, 
in the polished circles of Paris. The provincialisms 
quickly vanished ; she learned to speak French and 
Italian with ease, and soon became as great a favorite 
and as pronounced a Republican as her husband. 

The two remained in Paris until the spring of 1791, 
when, as we have seen, the enormities of the Jacobins 
rendered residence there unsafe, and they repaired to 
London, taking lodgings in Litchfield Street, then the 
literary centre. His papers contain no reference to the 
striking scenes and incidents that must have attended 
his residence in both Paris and London during this pe- 
riod. He kept no journal. Notes and jottings addressed 
to his wife contain frequent references to some mysteri- 
ous affair which was dependent on the action of the House 
of Lords. He was in constant communication with 
the French patriots. The American painters — Trumbull, 
Copley, and Benjamin West — were among his associates, 
as were also the London literati — Home Tooke, Price, 
Priestly, Thirlwall, and William Hayley, the poet, of whom 
Southey said that " he was by popular election king of 
the English poets of his time." At Copley's, who was 
then living in the house No. 25 George Street, Han- 
over Square, so charmingly described by his grand- 
daughter in her recent life of the artist, and which 
was a favorite resort for all resident or visiting Amer- 
icans in London, the young poet and his wife were 
frequent and welcome guests. 



94 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



But his chief employment, as we have seen, was the 
writing and publishing of his political essays, presumably 
under the patronage of the Constitutional Society. 

Early in April, 1792, he has an important project to 
communicate to Lafayette, who is at Metz, in command 
of 35,000 men, opposing the Austrian army of invasion, 
and sets out to pierce the cordon of the opposing force. 
He details his adventures during the trip in a series of 
interesting letters to Mrs. Barlow. From Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle he writes : " In travelling on the Continent I find I 
have seen much to affect as well as much to afiflict. I 
find myself more than ever affected with the fortunes of 
that dear, deluded race that we call our fellow-creatures. 
I say nothing of their situation in the countries where I 
have passed, as that would be like politics, and my letter 
may be opened ; I reserve that till I see you. But I 
wished that my Ruthy could have been a witness of some 
scenes that have so affected me." He adds in French 
that news of the declaration of war — (between France and 
Austria) — has been received there. From Dunkirk, May 
20: " Ever since I wrote from Aix last month it has been 
out of my power to write you, that is, to say anything 
that I wished to say, as I expected my letters would be 
opened ; then I expected every day to have got into 
France, when I should be free to tell you all. But the 
cursed tyrannies of men, and the more supportable ones 
of the elements, have fought against me ever since. I 
thank God I have escaped them all, though our new 
philosophers in London have not taught me to subdue 
them. I left that seat of the * Forsaken Villains,' Cob- 
lentz, on the 3d of May, after having concocted a good 
plan with my friend to render the most essential service 
to France. I was to make the best of my way to France 
to communicate my scheme to Lafayette, who was then 
near Metz — (cast your eye upon the map). The 4th day 
I had got within a mile of the parties, when I was taken 
up by the Austrians and sent back to Luxembourg. A 



JOEL BARLOW. g^ 

long tale hangs to this which I will tell you afterwards. 
I found it impossible to get into France in that direction. 
From Luxembourg, after several days' hinderance, I trav- 
ersed all the frontiers as far as Ostend, not without mak- 
ing several attempts to reach the French army, which lay 
within two or three leagues of me all the way. From 
Luxembourg to Ostend is 200 miles, travelling very slow. 
At Ostend I went on board a heavy, dull-sailing Dutch- 
man to come to Dunkirk, only thirty miles ; as fine a 
morning as need be ; but my Dutchman did not reach 
Dunkirk that night, when, to be sure, nothing but a vio- 
lent storm would do, and here we have been beating and 
buffeting three days and three nights and a half, within 
plain sight of Dunkirk, and a more terrible scene my 
poor nerves never experienced. . . . O my Carissima, had 
I set out one fortnight sooner, or immediately on receiv- 
ing S.'s letter, everything would have been done to my 
wish, and better than I had ever calculated. Had I 
arrived at Luxembourg three days sooner I might have 
got, without difficulty, into France. Had I sailed a tide 
sooner from Ostend it would have saved me four days, 
and perhaps been the saving of the scheme, which perhaps 
may be once more ruined by delay. . . . Tell Mr. John- 
son if either of my books are sold off to go on with 
another edition as with the first." His letters he directs 
addressed " Care Monsieur de Lafayette, Lieut.-Gen. des 
armies de France en son campT 

He continues the narrative from Paris on the 31st of 
May. 

" I have arrived here this moment. Lafayette sent 

me to negotiate the affair of S with the minister. I 

don't much expect it will succeed, but I am not sorry 
that I pursued it, because it has led me to much informa- 
tion. ..." 

On the 4th of June he wrote in French that he could 
not finish his affair because of Lafayette's non-arrival ; 
and again, on the i8th, that he should leave Paris in five 



^6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

days for London, not having been able to finish the busi- 
ness that brought him there. 

In a letter dated the 25th he gives this interesting 
morceau : " You will hear frightful stories about the riots 
at the Tuilleries on the 20th. You must believe but little ; 
there was no violence committed. This visit to the 
king by armed citizens was undoubtedly contrary to law, 
but the existence of a king is contrary to another law of 
a higher origin." He returned to London about the 
first of July. 

His leisure hours on his return were spent in preparing 
a "Letter" to the National Convention of France, which 
was presented on the assembling of that body in Septem- 
ber. This letter, which appears among his published 
works, will compare favorably with any state paper of the 
age. It was a lengthy treatise, filling some seventy 
printed pages, and called the attention of the legislators 
to such important topics as the equality of rights, the 
people's ability for self-government, necessity of a simple 
constitution, danger of a national church, distinction 
between a constitutional code and occasional laws, ac- 
quirement or loss of citizenship, naturalization, elections, 
magisterial and ministerial functions, salaries and perqui- 
sites of office, inviolability of Senators and Representa- 
tives, criminal law, the abolition of capital punishment, 
public instruction against public lotteries, independence 
of colonies, abolition of the standing army, and ratifica- 
tion of amendments. The paper was received with 
marked favor by the delegates, and led to their conferring 
on its author the distinguished honor of French citizen- 
ship. Dr. Joseph Warner, the English surgeon and phi- 
losopher, writes to Barlow, from Paris, Oct. i8th, on 
this subject : " A thousand thanks for the ' feast of reason 
and flow of soul ' with which you have this day regaled 
me in your kind letter and that to the National Conven- 
tion. It will, I flatter myself, do great credit to the 
writer and great good to the glorious cause of which he 



'-/"^: 



JOEL BARLOW. gy 

is SO able a supporter. . . . Leave the scene ? No : you 
must come here and be made a conventionalist — a citizen. 
I think you will be whether you come or not. For in 
the Patriote of the 25th ult. appeared the following list 
of seven Anglais to whom the National Convention pro- 
posed to confer the title of Citizen of France : Thomas 
Cooper, John Home Tooke, John Oswald, George Boris, 
Joel Barlow, Thomas Christie ; and whose should the last 
name be but that of your humble servant, who was not 
a little pleased to see himself, with his little pretensions, 
in such good company." Save Washington and Ham- 
ilton, Barlow was the only American on whom the priv- 
ileges of French citizenship had been conferred. In 7 ^C^ 
November the poet suddenly quitted England, it is said 
to escape arbitrary arrest for his political heresies, and 
several years elapsed before he again revisited her familiar 
scenes. Mrs. Barlow, however, remained in London. 
Arriving in Paris he found that the commissioners 
appointed by the National Convention to organize Savoy 
into a Department of France were about proceeding 
thither, Gregoire, Bishop of Blois, Senator and Member 
of the Institute, with other warm friends of the poet, 
being among them, and it was arranged that the newly- 
made citizen should accompany them to Savoy, and be 
returned as its deputy to the Convention. Barlow de- 
tails the whole plan in a letter to his wife, dated Paris, 
4th December, 1792: " I am called upon this moment, and 
have scarcely time to tell you of it, to go with the Com- 
missioners of the National Convention to Savoy. That 
country is united to France as an 84th Department. 
These Commissioners are going to organize the internal 
government, and teach them how to act in forming them- 
selves and in choosing their deputies to the National 
Convention. They intend a certain friend of your's shall 
be chosen. Of this you must not be sure, but he will at 
least see much of the south of France, the city of Lyons, 
the Alps, etc." He then expected to be absent three 
7 



98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

weeks, and advised his wife that she might join him, if 
she wished at Chambery, the ancient seat of the province, 
where the Commission would make headquarters. In 
point of fact he was absent all winter. He arrived 
about December 15, and in a note of that date gives this 
flattering estimate of the Savoyards : " Here is a people, 
rigorous and hardy, just born to liberty. They have long 
struggled under the worst and most complicated species 
of tyranny without being broken down in their spirits or 
debased in their morals. Their character bears a strong 
resemblance to the mountains which gave them birth. 
They appear to be perfectly united among themselves, 
and enthusiastically attached to their new brothers, the 
French. . . . Their patriotism and morals appear to me 
the purest of any people I ever knew." 

Although he was received in Lyons and Savoy *' with 
signal marks of fraternity and respect," yet, he informs 
her, " the object which you will suppose I had somewhat 
in mind will probably not be accomplished." December 
15th, he writes in French, that he is occupied day and 
night in writing " a little work on the political situation 
in Piedmont, in the form of a letter to the Piedmontese, 
exposing {exposant) the advantages which would attend 
a revolution of government in their country," a letter 
which was printed and sown broadcast that winter on 
the Piedmontese slopes. In later letters he tells her of 
a " little song " which he has made on the anniversary 
of their wedding,* but not a whisper is breathed of the 
charming mock pastoral which, more than anything he 
ever wrote, proves his claim to the possession of true 
genius. For in the little inn at Chambery the poem 
"Hasty-Pudding" had its birth. Several expressions in 
the poet's letters show that the rural scenery of Savoy 
had brought vividly to mind the Connecticut hill slopes 
and the pastoral scenes of youth. "There always was 
something in rural scenes too bewitching for me to enjoy 

* See Chapter VIII. 



The following is 2i fac simile of the opening page of the first di 










rtAti- 






r i2^ 



/^ W^-g^^ ^^^^w^e^-^-*^*-^ 



/^y 





^'^'tyt'^ /e^e^^ij! 



ft of the poem " Hasty Pudding, " in the author's handwriting 






; 






/€^y^\ V 








M^^^ 











.^^ 



n 



JOEL BARLOW. qq 

without you," he writes to his wife. ** If ever I grow 
peevish or indifferent, take me into the country among 
the rocks and trees. They will immediately transform 
you into an angel, and me into anything you please." 
" There are many things about the country which charm 
me," he writes again. " With you and a little farm 
among these romantic mountains and valleys I could be 
happy, content. I would care no more for the pleasures , 
of the plain ; but America — the word is sweetness to my \ 
soul; it awakens all the tenderness of my nature." The 
green hills and trim farm-houses of Savoy brought viv- 
idly to mind his own Connecticut hills, and the associa- 
tion was heightened when, on gathering with his grave 
compeers one day for the evening meal, he found smoking 
hot on the table the New Englander's national dish — 
Hasty-Pudding. The bard could scarce believe his eyes. 
He had sought it in vain in Paris, in London, at the hands 
of many a famous cJief, and now, behold it under the 
smoky rafters of a Savoyard inn. All through the meal, 
it is said, he descanted to his interested colleagues on 
the merits of his favorite dish. When alone, these 
reminiscences continued to haunt him, until, under their 
influence, he produced what is incomparably his best 
poem, and which still remains one of the best examples 
of its peculiar style of m.ock heroic and pastoral verse 
ever produced. The poet here is natural, spontaneous, 
unaffected. His subject has been familiar from childhood : 
his tropes and figures are furnished by his surroundings, 
or drawn from the storehouse of memory. 

He sang : ""x i^/. , 

Ye Alps audacious, through the heavens that rise, \ C j;^- v. c i p.. CC-CC 
To cramp the day and hide me from the skies ; 
Ye Gallic flags that, o'er their heights unfurl'd, 
Bear death to kings and freedom to the world, 
I sing not you. A softer theme I choose, 
A virgin theme, unconscious of the Muse, 
But fruitful, rich, well suited to inspire 
The purest frenzy of poetic fire. 



100 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Despise it not, ye bards to terror steeled, 
Who hurl your thunders round the epic field; 
Nor ye who strain your midnight throats to sing 
Joys that the vineyard and the still house bring ; 
Or on some distant fair your notes employ. 
And speak of raptures that you ne'er enjoy. 
I sing the sweets I know, the charms I feel, 
My morning incense, and my evening meal, 
The sweets of Hasty- Pudding. Come, dear bowl, 
Glide o'er my palate and inspire my soul. 
The milk beside thee, smoking from the kine, 
Its substance mingled, maiTied in with thine, 
Shall cool and temper thy superior heat. 
And save the pains of blowing while I eat. 

Oh ! could the smooth, the emblematic song 
Flow like thy genial juices o'er my tongue, 
Could those mild morsels in my numbers chime, 
And as they roll in substance, roll in rhyme. 
No more thy awkward, unpoetic name. 
Should shun the Muse, or prejudice thy fame ; 
But, rising grateful to the accustomed ear. 
All bards should catch it and all realms revere ! 

Assist me first with pious toil to trace. 
Through wrecks of time, thy lineage and thy race ; 
Declare what lovely squaw, in days of yore, 
Ere great Columbus sought thy native shore. 
First gave thee to the world ; her works of fame 
Have lived indeed, but lived without a name. 
Some tawny Ceres, goddess of her days, 
First learned with stones to crack the well dried maize, 
Through the rough sieve to shake the golden shower, 
In boiling water stir the yellow flour ; 
The yellow flour, bestrewed and stirred with haste. 
Swells in the flood and thickens to a paste, 
Then puffs and wallops, rises to the brim. 
Drinks the dry knobs that on the surface swim ; 
The knobs at last the busy ladle breaks, 
And the whole mass its true consistence takes. 

Could but her sacred name, unknown so long. 
Rise, like her labors, to the son of song, 
To her, to them, I'd consecrate my lays. 
And blow her pudding with the breath of praise. 
If 'twas Oella, whom I sang before, 
I'd here ascribe her one great virtue more. 



JOEL BARLOW. IqI 

Nor through the rich Peruvian realms alone 
The fame of Sol's sweet daughter should be known, 
But o'er the world's wide climes should live secure, 
Far as his rays extend, as long as they endure. 

/ Dear Hasty-Pudding, what unpromised joy y 

' Expands my heart, to meet thee in Savoy I 

Doomed o'er the world through devious paths to roam, 

Each clime my country, and each house my home, 

My soul is soothed, my cares have found an end, 

I greet my long-lost, unforgotten friend. 

For thee through Paris, that corrupted town, 
How long in vain I wandered up and down, 
Where shameless Bacchus, with his drenching hoard 
Cold from his cave, usurps the morning board. 
London is lost in smoke and steeped in tea; 
No Yankee there can lisp the name of thee ; 
The uncouth word, a libel on the town. 
Would call a proclamation from the crown. 
From climes oblique, that fear the sun's full rays, 
Chilled in their fogs, exclude the generous maize ; 
A grain whose rich luxuriant growth requires 
Short, gentle showers and bright, ethereal fires. 

But here, though distant from our native shore, 
With mutual glee we meet and laugh once more, 
The same I I know thee by that yellow face. 
That strong complexion of true Indian race, 
Which time can never change, nor soil impair^ 
Nor Alpine snows, nor Turkey's morbid air ; 
For endless years, through every mild domain. 
Where grows the maize, there thou art sure to reign. 

But man, more fickle, the bold license claims, 
In different realms to give thee different names. 
Thee, the soft nations round the warm Levant 
Polenta call, the French, of course, Polente ; 
E'en in thy native regions, how I blush 
To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee Mush ! 
On Hudson's banks, while men of Belgic spawn 
Insult and eat thee by the name Suppawn. 
All spurious appellations, void of truth — 
I've better known thee from my earliest youth : 
Thy name is Hasty-Pudding! thus my sire 
Was wont to greet thee fuming from the fire ; 
And while he argued in thy just defence 
With logic clear, he thus explained the sense :— 



102 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

' " In haste the boiling cauldron o'er the blaze 
Receives and cooks the ready-powdered maize ; 
In haste 'tis served, and then, in equal haste, 
With cooling milk, we make the sweet repast. 
No carving to be done, no knife to grate 
The tender ear, and wound the stony plate ; 
But the smooth spoon, just fitted to the lip, 
And taught with art the yielding mass to dip, 
By frequent journeys to the bowl well stored 
Performs the hasty honors of the board." 
Such is thy name, significant and clear, 
A name, a sound to every Yankee dear. 
But most to me, whose heart and palate chaste 
Preserve my pure hereditary taste. 

There are who strive to stamp with disrepute 
The luscious food, because it feeds the brute ; 
In tropes of high-strained wit, while gaudy prigs 
Compare thy nursling man to pampered pigs ; 
With sovereign scorn I treat the vulgar jest. 
Nor fear to share thy bounties with the beast. 
What though the generous cow gives me to quaff 
The milk nutritious ; am I then a calf ? 
Or can the genius of the noisy swine. 
Though nursed on pudding, claim a kin to mine ? 
Sure the sweet song I fashion to thy praise 
Runs more melodious than the notes they raise. 

My song, resounding in its grateful glee, 
No merit claims ; I praise myself in thee. 
My father loved thee through his length of days ! 
For thee his fields were shaded o'er with maize ; 
From thee what health, what vigor he possessed, 
Ten sturdy freemen from his loins attest ; 
; Thy constellation ruled my natal morn, 
' And all my bones were made of Indian com. 
I Delicious grain ! whatever form it take. 
To roast or boil, to smother or to bake. 
In every dish 'tis welcome still to me. 
But most, my Hasty-Pudding > most in thee. 

Let the green succotash with thee contend, 
Let beans and corn their sweetest juices blend, 
Let butter drench them in its yellow tide. 
And a long slice of bacon grace their side ; 
Not all the plate, how famed soe'er it be. 
Can please my palate like a bowl of thee. 



JOEL BARLOW. jq- 

Some talk of Hoe-Cake, fair Virginia's pride ; 
Rich Johnny-Cake this mouth has often tried. 
Both please me well, their virtues much the same ; 
Alike their fabric as allied their fame, 
Except in dear New England, where the last 
Receives a dash of pumpkin in the paste, 
To give it sweetness and improve the taste. 
But place them all before me, smoking hot, 
The big round dumpling rolling from the pot ; 
The pudding of the bag, whose quivering breast, 
With suet, lined, leads on the Yankee feast; 
The Charlotte brown, within whose crusty sides 
A belly soft the pulpy apple hides ; 
The yellow bread, whose face like amber glows, 
And all of Indian that the bake-pan knows — 
Ye tempt me not, my favorite greets my eyes. 
To that loved bowl my spoon by instinct flies. 

To mix the food by vicious rules of art, 
To kill the stomach and to sink the heart, 
To make mankind to social virtue sour, 
Cram o'er each dish and be what they devour; 
For this the Kitchen Muse first framed her book, 
Commanding sweets to stream from every cook ; 
Children no more their antic gambols tried. 
And friends to physic wondered why they died. 
Not so the Yankee — his abundant feast, 
With simples furnished, and with plainness drest, 
A numerous offspring gathers round the board 
And cheers alike the servant and the lord, 
Whose well-bought hunger prompts the joyous task, 
And health attends them from the short repast. 

While the full pail rewards the milkmaid's toil, 
The mother sees the morning cauldron boil ; 
To stir the pudding next demands her care, 
To spread the table and the bowls prepare ; 
To feed the children as their portions cool, 
And comb their heads and send them off to school. 
Yet may the simplest dish some rules impart, 
For nature scorns not all the aids of art : 
E'en Hasty-Pudding, purest of all food. 
May still be bad, indifferent, or good, 
As sage experience the short process guides, 
Or want of skill, or want of care presides. 
Whoe'er would form it on the surest plan, 
To rear the child and long sustain the man ; 



104 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

To shield the morals while it mends the size, 
And all the powers of every food supplies — 
Attend the lessons that the Muse shall bring, 
Suspend your spoons, and listen while I sing. 

But since, O man ! thy life and health demand 
Not food alone, but labor from thy hand, 
First in the field, beneath the sun's strong rays, 
Ask of thy Mother Earth the needful maize; 
She loves the race that courts her yielding soil, 
And gives her bounties to the sons of toil. 

When now the ox, obedient to thy call, 
Repays the loan that filled the winter stall, 
Pursue his traces o'er the furrowed plain. 
And plant in measured hills the golden grain. 
But when the tender germ begins to shoot, 
And the green spire declares the sprouting root, 
Then guard your nursling from each greedy foe — 
The insidious worm, the all-devouring crow. 
A little ashes, sprinkled round the spire. 
Soon steeped in rain, will bid the worm retire; 
The feathered robber with his hungry maw 
Swift flies the field before your man of straw — 
A frightful image, such as schoolboys bring 
When met to burn the Pope, or hang the King. 

Thrice in the season, through each verdant row. 
Wield the strong ploughshare and the faithful hoe — 
The faithful hoe ; a double task that takes, — 
To till the summer corn and roast the winter cakes. 
Slow springs the blade while checked by chilling rains, 
E'er yet the sun the seat of Cancer gains ; 
But when his present fires emblaze the land. 
Then start the juices, then the roots expand; 
Then, like a column of Corinthian mould, 
The stalk struts upward and the leaves unfold; 
The bushy branches all the ridges fill. 
Entwine their arms, and kiss from hill to hill. 
Here cease to vex them, all your cares are done ; 
Leave the last labors to the parent sun ; 
Beneath his genial smiles the well-dressed field, 
When Autumn calls, a plenteous crop shall yield. 

Now the strong foliage bears the standards high, 
And shoots the tall top-gallants to the sky ; 
The suckling ears their silky fringes bend, 
And pregnant grown, their swelling coats distend ; 



JOEL BARLOW. 105 

The loaded stalk, while still the burden grows, 
O'erhangs the space that runs between the rows. 
High as z. hop-field waves the silent grove, 
A safe retreat for little thefts of love. 
When the fledged roasting-ears invite the maid 
To meet her swain beneath the new-formed shade : 
His generous hand unloads the cumbrous hill, 
And the green spoils her ready basket fill ; 
Small compensation for the twofold bliss, 
The prqmised wedding and the present kiss. 

Slight depredations these ; but now the moon 
Calls from his hollow tree the sly raccoon; 
And while by night he bears his prize away, 
The bolder squirrel labors through the day : 
Both thieves alike, but provident of time — 
A virtue rare that almost hides their crime. 
Then let them steal the little stores they can, 
And fill their granaries from the toils of man ; 
We've one advantage where they take no part : 
With all their wiles they ne'er have found the art 
To boil the Hasty-Pudding ; here we shine 
Superior far to tenants of the pine ; 
This envied boon to man shall still belong, 
Unshared by them in substance or in song. 

At last the closing season browns the plain, 
And ripe October gathers in the grain ; 
Deep-loaded carts the spacious corn-house fill. 
The sack distended marches to the mill; 
The laboring mill beneath the burden groans, 
And showers the future pudding from the stones, 
'Till the glad housewife greets the powdered gold, 
And the new crop exterminates the old. 
Ah ! who can sing, what every wight must feel, 
The joy that enters with the bag of meal. 
A general jubilee pervades the house. 
Wakes every child and gladdens every mouse. 

The days grow short, but though the falling sun 
To the glad swain proclaims his day's work done. 
Night's pleasing shades his various tasks prolong, 
And yield new subjects to my various song. 
For now, the corn-house filled, the harvest home. 
The invited neighbors to the Husking come ; 
A frolic scene, where work, and mirth, and play 
Unite their charms to chase the hours away. 



I05 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Where the huge heap lies centred in the hall, 

The lamp suspended from the cheerful wall. 

Brown, corn-fed nymphs and strong, hard-handed beaux, 

Alternate ranged, extend in circling rows. 

Assume their seats, the solid mass attack ; 

The dry husks rustle and the corn-cobs crack ; 

The song, the laugh, alternate notes resound, 

And the sweet cider trips in silence round. 

The laws of husking every wight can tell— 
And sure no laws he ever keeps so well : 
For each red ear a general kiss he gains, 
With each smut ear she smuts the luckless swains ; 
But when to some sweet maid a prize is cast, 
Red as her lips and taper as her waist. 
She walks the round, and culls one favored beau. 
Who leaps, the luscious tribute to bestow. 
Various the sport as are the wits and brains 
Of well-pleased lasses and contending swains. 
Till the vast mound of corn is swept away, 
And he that gets the last ear wins the day. 

Meanwhile the housewife urges all her care, 
The well-earned feast to hasten and prepare : 
The sifted meal already waits her hand, 
The milk is strained, the bowls in order stand, 
The fire flames high, and, as a fool that takes 
The headlong stream that o'er the mill-dam breaks, 
Foams, roars, and rages with incessant toils, 
So the vexed cauldron rages, roars, and boils. 

First with clean salt she seasons well the food, 
Then strews the flour and thickens all the flood. 
Long o'er the simmering fire she lets it stand — 
To stir it well demands a stronger hand : 
The husband takes his turn, and round and round 
The ladle flies ; at last the toil is crowned ; 
When to the board the thronging buskers pour, 
And take their seats as at the corn before. 

I leave them to their feast. There still belong 
More useful matters to my faithful song ; 
For rules there are, though ne'er unfolded yet, 
Nice rules and wise, how pudding should be eat. 

Some with molasses line the luscious treat. 
And mix, like Bards, the useful with the sweet. 



JOEL BARLOW. jq^ 

A wholesome dish, and well deserving praise, 
A great resource in those bleak, wintry days. 
When the chilled earth lies buried deep in snow, 
And raging Boreas dries the shivering cow. 

Blest cow ! thy praise shall still my notes employ: 
Great source of health, the only source of joy, 
Mother of Egypt's god ; — but sure for me. 
Were I to leave my God I'd worship thee. 
How oft thy teats these pious hands have prest 1 
How oft thy bounties proved my only feast ! 
How oft I've fed thee with my favorite grain, 
And roared, like thee, to see thy children slain ! 

Ye swains who know her various worth to prize, 
Ah ! house her well from Winter's angry skies. 
Potatoes, pumpkins, should her sadness cheer. 
Corn from her crib, and mashes from your beer; 
When Spring returns she'll well acquit the loan. 
And nurse at once your infants and her own. 

Milk, then, with pudding, I should always choose ; 
To this in future I confine my Muse, 
Till she, in haste, some further hints unfold. 
Good for the young, nor useless to the old. 
First in your bowl the milk abundant take. 
Then drop with care along the silver lake 
Your flakes of pudding ; these, at first, will hide 
Their little bulk beneath the swelling tide ; 
But when their growing mass no more can sink. 
When the soft island looms above the brink. 
Then check your hand ; you've got the portion due. 
So taught my Sire, and what he taught is true. 

There is a choice in spoons. Though small appear 
The nice distinction, yet to me 'tis clear 
The deep-bowled Gallic spoon, contrived to scoop 
In ample draughts the thin diluted soup. 
Performs not well in those substantial things, 
Whose mass adhesive to the metal clings ; 
Where the strong labial muscles must embrace 
The gentle curve, and sweep the hollow space. 
With ease to enter and discharge the freight, 
A bowl less concave, but still more dilate. 
Becomes the pudding best. The shape, the size, 
A secret rests, unknown to vulgar eyes ; 



I08 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Experienced feeders can alone impart 

A rule so much above the lore of art : 

These tuneful lips, that thousand spoons have tried, 

With just precision could the point decide. 

Though not in song ; the Muse but poorly shines 
In cones and cubes, and geometric lines, 
Yet the true form, as near as she can tell, 
Is that small section of a goose-egg shell 1 

Which in two equal portions shall divide 
The distance from the centre to the side. 

Fear not to slaver ; 'tis no deadly sin. 
Like the fine Frenchman, from your joyous chin 
Suspend the ready napkin ; or, like me. 
Poise with one hand your bowl upon your knee; 
Just in the zenith your wise head project, 
Your full spoon, rising in a line direct, 
Bold as a bucket, heeds no drops that fall, 
The wide-mouthed bowl will surely catch them all. 

It proved a dreary winter to the little wife, however, 
shut up alone in great, dreary London, and made to bear 
the odium of being a proscribed Republican's wife. Her 
situation certainly was distressing. Her husband could 
not safely return to England, and she feared to join him 
abroad, for a general European war was imminent. With 
this war, no doubt, mingled wifely fears for her husband's 
welfare, both moral and physical. " Whither will these 
wild projects lead him," we can imagine her saying, 
"into the dungeons of England, of Austria, or the bloody 
hands of Robespierre ? and into what company ? " for 
Republicanism in that day made strange bed-fellows. 
This winter, too, her feelings are outraged by bitter at- 
tacks upon him in the public press, and by the silent con- 
demnation of old friends who stand aloof. 

Under date of Jan. i, 1793, she writes from London on 
this subject : " Would to Heaven you had not left me — 
that is, unless it has given you satisfaction ; if so, I have 
nothing to say. Here you cannot return at present ; 
everything evil is said of you, and I am obliged to avoid 
company not to hear you abused. I hope you may be 



JOEL BARLOW. IOQ 

provided for in some eligible way in Paris, or what is to 
become of us ? For myself it matters little ; I can and 
shall go home in the spring. Our friends in Paris wrote 
that they expected me there ; why should I go unless 
you are like to continue ? .... Our friends the P.'s have 
quite withdrawn their attentions. I have not seen nor 
heard from them in more than a month — on account of 
your pontics, I suppose, but am not sorry. . . ." Again, 
Jan. 9th : " You cannot think how much you are abused 
here. The Oracle of yesterday has promised his corre- 
spondents that on Thursday he shall publish in his paper an 
interesting account of the life of Joel Barlow, author of 
the ' Advice to the Privileged Orders.' Mr. Burke often 
makes honorable mention of you in Parliament ; some- 
times he calls you a prophet — the prophet Joel. I shall 
enclose you one of his sentences. You are very obnox- 
ious here, and it is thought you cannot return with 
safety; the Alien Bill would prevent you, if nothing 
more. Mr. Burke said : ' The members of the Constitu- 
tional Society held open correspondence with certain 
societies in France, for the express purpose of altering 
the Constitution of this country. A citizen by the name 
of Joel Barlow, another by the name of John Adams, and 
Citizen Frost were engaged in this correspondence, and 
they had been deemed answerable.' Should England 
go to war, as there is now every appearance, what would 
you do with me ? I should not like to be in Paris, and all 
the ports blocked up with fleets, and the frontiers sur- 
rounded with armies. I could not be safe in Boulogne, 
and could not go to America with safety if war is soon 
declared, ... I fear, my love, you did wrong in going 
to Paris with Mr. F — t : his character here is so bad it 
has injured yours, hitherto spotless. I shall send you 
Mr. Fox's speech upon the Kings,* at the opening of 
Parliament : it is excellent." Still again, Jan. 28th : 

*The Conspiracy of Kings (?). 



no LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

"Your affairs here are all a wreck, as Mr. J — n (Johnson, 
his printer) will tell you. It is my present intention to 
go to my country early in the spring : this you will un- 
doubtedly advise, hard as it is for us both. My heart 
revolts at the idea, but it must be. ... I told you our 
friends the P.'s had quite withdrawn themselves from me. 
I have not seen nor heard from either of them in more 
than two months, . . . My feelings have been much 
wounded, as you may suppose, to see and hear my be- 
loved, my best friend, thus scandalized as he has been 
here, when I know so well the goodness, the rectitude of 
his heart and intentions. I was going to enclose a long 
account of you which has been in the public papers, but 
on the Avhole thought it not worth the notice. . . . Make 
yourself happy and respectable ; follow entirely your own 
inclinations in so doing, knowing that you will always 
gratify me ; I knowyour conduct will always be directed 
by humanity, integrity, and a desire to promote the good 
of your fellow-creatures." 

Feb. ist. — " I fear every mail will be the last, as we 
are in daily expectation of war being declared by this 
country or France, as the French Minister is ordered out 
of this kingdom. . . ." The poet's answers to these 
epistles are models of conjugal tenderness, respect, and 
wisdom. He makes no attempt to defend his course, 
does not combat her design of returning home, but in- 
stead, gives a conditional promise to return with her. 

The election in Savoy, for which he had been waiting, 
was held late in February, and Citizen Barlow was not re- 
turned as Deputy. He arrived in Paris on the 5th of 
March, 1793, fully determined, as appears by his letters, to 
sail for home as soon as a ship could be procured, and his 
wife got over from England. He had several plans for 
America on his return, as appears by the letters : ist. To 
return to the law at Hartford ; 2d. To go to Musking. 
mum, where he had land, received for his services in the 
army; 3d. To Georgia; 4th. Some possible public ap- 



JOEL BARLOW. HI 

pointment. But he did not visit his native land that year, 
nor in many years. Just as he was on the point of sail- 
ing, a friend, Colonel Hitchborne, approached him with 
an advantageous offer, the character of which does not 
appear, but which, after being referred to Mrs. Barlow for 
approval, was accepted. It was nearly four months be- 
fore the exiled husband could induce the wife to rejoin 
him in Paris, then the terror of Europe. " I meddle 
with no politics," he declares in one letter, and he seems 
at this time to have withdrawn from active participation 
in European affairs. " Paris is quiet," he says in another, 
" and I believe will be," and he assures her that there is 
no apprehension of personal danger to any peaceable 
person there. At length, late in June, the lady ventured 
to cross over, and the pair settled in lodgings for the 
summer at Mendon, one of the suburbs of the city. For 
the next three years Barlow seems to have devoted him- 
self to commerce and speculation, with a view of retriev- 
ing his fortunes, sadly impaired by his support of the 
Republican cause. He is in Hamburg, Amsterdam, Ant- 
werp, quite frequently, on "business." His ledgers of 
the period show accounts with many ships, captains, and 
cities. He invested largely in French Government con- 
sols, which rose rapidly after the victories of Napoleon 
and yielded him a handsome fortune. But he engaged 
in no more political intrigues, and published no more 
political writings except, in September, 1793, the last 
part of the ''Advice to the Privileged Orders," the 
first chapter of which had been left with his printer on 
leaving London the year before. In the spring of 1793 
he had received the MSS. from the printer, with a note 
saying that its publication and sale had been forbidden 
by the authorities, whereupon he completed the work 
and issued it from the English press in Paris. His 
American correspondents during this period were, 
chiefly, Dr. Hopkins, of the tuneful four, Oliver Wolcott, 
Abraham Baldwin, and Thomas Jefferson. Among his 



112 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



European correspondents were Stanislaus, King of Po- 
land, Prof. C. D. Ebeling, of the University of Gottin- 
gen, Abbe Gregoire, William Hayley, the poet. Dr. 
Warner, and other English Constitutionalists. 

Dr. Hopkins' letters informed him of the welfare and 
fortunes of certain old friends, who have been lost sight 
of in the progress of our story. " I still live," he wrote 
in one, " where I did when you went away, though I 
ought to live in the middle of the town, I have 
followed my calling with great industry the whole time ; 
still keep up my medical school, and have now five 
pupils — all promising young men — with me. I have not 
sold my estate at Litchfield, but have exchanged it for 
one in the middle of that county, that where Samuel 
Sheldon kept a tavern in the war. I hope to sell my 
Litchfield property timely for moving to some place 
where you shall live when you return, for you know I 
would make large sacrifices for the sake of enjoying my 
old friends. Hartford has become a very different place 
to me since you and friend Wolcott left it, and, Trum- 
bull apart, has no more charms for me than Musking- 
mum. Indeed, I believe those boundless wilds would 
yield me more pleasure than any old settlement ; but 
friends are the chief comforts of life. Wolcott has 
taken a permanent residence at New York. Where you 
will provide for your old age I know not, but I wish to 
know, and hope in due time to hear from you respecting 
your future plan of life. I have lately found that the 
prime of our days is speeding apace ; that the transition 
from middle to old age will prove short, and what can 
we do better on a stage that we must quit, than strive 
to leave some fair monument of melioration behind us ? 
You have already erected a literary monument to your 
memory, and are now preparing to make the Western 
wilderness vocal in your praise. I have now no doubt of 
your success, but am afraid that your extensive plans 
will deprive me forever of your acquaintance. As for 



JOEL BARLOW. jj» 

myself, I grope about among the sick, and now and 
then ease the pain or cure the disease of a fellow-mortal ; 
but have not yet done anything to convince posterity 
that I have been fairly awake. 'Tis true that, some time 
after you left us, I returned (as Mickle says), ' Through 
seas where vessel never sailed before,' even down to 
the Nucleus of the Earth. I found it inhabited by a 
race of creatures that looked queerly, and acted and 
reasoned queerly, but I have not yet found time to de- 
scribe them or their habitation in any tolerable degree. 
However, I have spent six or seven sheets on that odd 
race of beings, and shall probably fill twenty or thirty 
more with the relation of this singular adventure. I cal- 
culate that we shall renew our acquaintance, in part, by 
looking over the manuscript.* Our friend Isaac Bron- 
son has married his dulcinea, and where Mr. Wolcott 
did. Mr. Goodrich has married Mary Ann Wolcott; 
but she is in declining health, and I have some fears that 
she will not recover. 

" I thought I would not write you a word about poli- 
tics, but I must just say that our friend Trumbull, a few 
days ago, came very near being chosen a Representative 
to the General Assembly; that Congress have lately 
rejected the proposition for the assumption of the state 
debts ; and that it seems to me that France has wrought 
a wonder in the earth, which, with many concurrent 
predisposirions in Providence, must eventually break 
every yoke. I rejoice that you are on the theatre of 
their noble achievements, and I anticipate, with great 
pleasure, the time when I shall hear you relate them," 

That the poet's Republicanism had not wholly 
alienated the affections of his alma mater appears from 
a letter written by President 3tiles, in March, 1793, 
"introducing and recommending to his friendship and 
civilities" a young gentleman of Windham, Conn., a 



* This reference is undoubtedly to the Anarchiad. 



114 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



recent graduate of the college. The venerable President 
adds : " Your humanity and guardianship of juvenile 
virtue will introduce him to such acquaintance, both 
French and English, at Paris, as will be safe, advan- 
tageous, and agreeable to a young character who sets 
out in life with resolutions of endeavoring to pass 
through its most dangerous scenes with the preservation 
of virtue and honor. I commend him to your faithful 
counsel, advice, and friendship." 

" I congratulate you," he continues, " upon the celeb- 
rity and fame which your poetical and political writings 
have justly merited and acquired to you, partly in pro- 
curing your conspicuous elevation and seat in the National 
Convention in France,* one of the most important and 
illustrious assemblies that ever sat on this terraqueous 
globe ; an assembly charged with the highest bestow- 
ments, and coming up from the people with the express 
power and authority for the accomplishment of three 
great works : the form of a Constitution, the taking into 
their hands the public administration and national gov- 
ernment in the interim, and sitting as a judiciary tribunal 
on the life of a king — works great and arduous, momen- 
tous, and of vast consequence to the cause of public lib- 
erty, the rights of sovereignty, and the indefeasible rights 
of man. May you, may the whole National Assembly, 
the authoritative and empowered representatives of 25 
millions of people, be inspired with light and wisdom by 
the Supreme Arbiter of Public Right." 

In the spring of 1795, an epoch in the poet's career the 
most arduous and honorable was approaching, and to 
this the reader's attention is now invited. 

* The President accepts as true the English report that he was thus elected. 
Some of the articles in the Cyclopaedias make the same statement. But 
we have Barlow's admission, in a letter to his wife, that the election was 
' decided against him. 



JOEL BARLOW. jj- 



CHAPTER VI. 

1795-1797. 

Returning to Paris from a business trip to the Low 
Countries in the summer of 1795, Barlow found awaiting 
him there his old friend and companion-in-arms, Col. 
David Humphreys. This gentleman, whom we last saw 
in Hartford, had in the eight years which had elapsed 
also much advanced his fortunes. Joining Washington 
at Mt. Vernon in 1787, he had remained in his family 
until 1790, when he was appointed by Washington Min- 
ister to Portugal, with general supervision over Barbary 
affairs. Algerine piracy was then at its height of inso- 
lence and ferocity. The little bundle of wretched des- 
potisms on the southern shore of the Mediterranean 
dominated all Christendom. Great Britain, France, 
Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Venice paid them 
tribute ; Algiers alone was now waging successful war 
with Russia, Austria, Portugal, Naples, Sardinia, Genoa, 
and Malta. Her first depredation against American 
commerce was committed on the 25th of July, 1785, 
when the schooner Maria, Captain Stevens, owned by 
Mr. Foster, of Boston, was seized off Cape St. Vincent by 
a corsair and carried into Algiers. Five days later the 
ship Dolphin, Captain O'Brien, Messrs. Irvine, of Phila- 
delphia, owners, was taken one hundred and fifty miles 
to the westward of Lisbon. Other captures followed, 
so that by 1795 there were fully one hundred and fifty 
American prisoners in the slave-pens of Algiers. These 
slaves, as appears from their own depositions, were 
treated with the utmost rigor and cruelty. The most 
promising were selected by the Dey for menial service in 
his palace ; the others were dismissed to a life of grind- 



J i6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ing, degrading slavery. They were lodged in the slave- 
1 bagnioSj^in the midst of filth, vermin, and loathsome dis- 
1 eases. Their food was black-bread and olive oil, and 
they toiled, chained like galley-slaves, some in the quar- 
ries, some building public works, some unloading the 
stores from their own captured vessels. 

The steps taken by Congress for the liberation of these 
captives were timorous, halting, and ineffectual, and 
cannot be viewed even now without calling the flush of 
indignation to the cheek. Our frigates then in commis- 
sion could easily have blown every Algerine cruiser out 
of the water, and have battered the Dey's crazy capital 
about his ears ; the testimony of the prisoners proves 
this. But instead of an aggressive policy, the American 
Government preferred to follow the example of Euro- 
pean nations, and negotiate. Its first overtures were 
made through Mr. John Lamb, its agent at Algiers ; its 
second, through the General of the Mathurins, a religious 
order of France, instituted at an early period for the 
redemption of Christian captives from the Infidels. 
After consuming six years in negotiation both proved 
abortive, the Dey's valuation of a Christian being nearly 
double that placed upon him by Congress. In June, 
1792, the celebrated John Paul Jones was appointed 
Consul to Algiers, with the hope of negotiating a treaty 
and ransoming the prisoners, but died at Paris before 
reaching the scene of his labors, Mr. Thomas Barclay, 
his successor, died at Lisbon, Jan. 19, 1793, while on his 
way t» Algiers. After his death, Colonel Humphreys 
assumed the general charge of Barbary affairs, and ap- 
pointed Pierre E. Skjoldebrand, a brother of the Swedish 
Consul, his agent at Algiers, but with no better results. 
Humphreys came to America in 1794, and it was then 
arranged that Joseph Donaldson, of Philadelphia, should 
be appointed agent at Tunis and Tripoli, while Joel Bar- 
low was to be induced, if possible, to accept the mission to 
Algiers, and the general oversight of the Barbary States. 



JOEL BARLOW. H^ 

Humphreys and Donaldson left America in April, 1795. 
At Gibraltar they separated, Donaldson proceeding to 
his post, and Humphreys going on to Paris, to enlist his 
old friend in the cause, and induce the French Govern- 
ment, then possessing great influence with the Dey, to 
use its kind ofBces in advancing the treaty. 

Barlow undoubtedly shrank at first from accepting the 
mission. He had great business interests, a sufficient 
fortune — his estate, in 1796, he valued at $126,000 — a 
wife affectionate and beloved, a circle of choice friends, 
literary undertakings, — all centred in Paris. To leave 
these for a barbarous capital, even then smitten by the 
deadly plague, on a mission that from its nature must 
entail untold miseries, vexations, and dangers, was a sac- 
rifice indeed. Yet the occasion seemed to demand it. 
There were few men so well fitted for the task as he. 
France was then the power highest in favor with the 
Dey. French was the court language. Barlow, a citizen 
of France as well as of America, thoroughly familiar 
with the French language and customs, seemed particu- 
larly well fitted for conducting these delicate negotia- 
tions. These considerations, duly urged, produced the 
desired effect. He accepted the mission, and entrusting 
to him the purchase of the presents with which it was 
proposed to buy a treaty and a ransom, Humphreys 
shortly returned to his post in Lisbon. Barlow's official 
correspondence while on this mission filled four large 
manuscript volumes, and his letters to his wife, all written 
in French, would fill as many more. It appears by the 
former that he was occupied three months in Paris se- 
lecting and purchasing the presents — which comprised 
"jewels and other articles," to the value of 162,530 
livres — and in making his preparations for the journey. 
About the middle of December all was ready, and bid- 
ding his friends and his faithful wife farewell, he sat out 
in his own private carriage for Lyons, intending there to 
take the public conveyance to Marseilles and thence pro- 



Il8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ceed by shipping to Algiers via Alicante. His sole trav- 
elling-companion was a vache, in which the 162,530 livres 
worth of jewels were packed. The carriage proceeded 
southward through a level, cultivated country to the 
wealthy city of Lyons on the Rhone. He reached it 
Dec. 31, 1795. From this point, we learn by his letters, 
a diligence d'eau (water diligence) plied down the river ; 
but to save time he hired a barque de porte (mail boat) — 
quicker and surer, but more expensive. Ponies, carriage, 
postilions, and traveller embarked on this craft and 
floated three days down the beautiful river to Avignon, 
where they disembarked and took the post-road through 
Aix to Marseilles, which they reached on the 5th of Janu- 
ary. Here the ambassador remained twenty days, await- 
ing a ship for Alicante, employing his time in writing let- 
ters to Madame Barlow, who remained at Paris, and in 
questioning such Algerines as he chanced to meet on the 
state of their country, and the disposition and feelings of 
the Dey. 

He sailed from Marseilles on the 25th of January, but 
was driven by a gale into the Bay of Roses, in Spain. 
From this point, anxious to get on, and head-winds con- 
tinuing, he proceeded on mule-back to Alicante, a jour- 
ney of ten days. There he learned that Donaldson, who, 
it will be remembered, had left Humphreys at Gibraltar 
and had gone on to Algiers, on reaching his post had 
found the Dey in a genial humor, and had somewhat 
precipitately concluded a treaty * without awaiting the 
arrival of his colleague. The treaty had been signed 
nearly six months before. What had passed in the in- 
terim is very concisely told by Barlow in a letter written 



* Its principal provisions were : The opening of Algerine ports to Amer- 
ican commerce, immunity of American vessels from search or capture by 
the Dey's corsairs, and the right of our war-vessels to provision at, and 
send their prizes into, Algerine ports. The cost of the treat)', according to 
Treasurer Wolcott's report, was #992,463.25, of^which $522,500 was paid for 
the ransom of the captives. 



JOEL BARLOW. Hq 

at Alicante to James Monroe, our Minister in Paris : " On 
my arrival here I found no letters or orders from Mr. 
Humphreys, but instead of them I have collected from 
the best information I could obtain here the following 
statement of facts relative to the business in question : It 
appears that in the treaty made by Mr. Donaldson no 
precise time was fixed upon for the payment of the money 
stipulated to be paid by the United States, but it was 
understood that it would be within about three months. 
The treaty, I believe, was signed in the early part of Sep- 
tember. After the expiration of the above term the Dey 
began to be impatient and to manifest his uneasiness 
that the. money did not appear, and that there was no 
sign of its appearance, saying that he was sorry that he 
had made the treaty, as under present circumstances it 
was against the interest of the regency, but as he had 
signed the treaty it should be faithfully executed on his 
part, provided the money was paid in a reasonable time. 
Mr. Donaldson, being somewhat alarmed at these appear- 
ances, and at hearing nothing from the money, procured 
a Moorish barque and sent Mr. Sloan, his interpreter, 
to Alicante with despatches for Mr. Humphreys. Mr. 
Sloan left Algiers about the 5th of January, and arrived 
here about the loth. He being obliged to perform quar- 
antine, Mr. Montgomery, our consul here, took the 
despatches and proceeded himself to Lisbon, supposing 
the affair too pressing to admit of delay and the de- 
spatches too important to be trusted to the post. Sloan 
was one of the American prisoners, and had been em- 
ployed as a domestic servant by the Dey. He is now 
here awaiting an answer from Lisbon. 

" We will now look to Lisbon and the causes of the 
delay in that quarter. You know the credits on which 
the money was to be raised was lodged in London. You 
know, too, that Mr. Humphreys, who left Havre some 
time in October, had a passage of more than 40 days 
to Lisbon. Mr. Donaldson had despatched Captain 



120 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

O'Brien from Algiers to Lisbon with the treaty early in 
September. He probably arrived within that month. 
Mr. Humphreys did not arrive till towards the end of 
November ; everything must have remained inactive dur- 
ing that interval. I am informed that Mr. Humphreys, 
after his arrival, could not negotiate bills on London for 
more than one-fourth the sum, and it appears on this 
account he did not negotiate any. Of this, however, I 
am not sure. But in consequence of his not being able 
to raise money in that place sufficient to fulfil the con- 
tract with the Dey, he sent Captain O'Brien to London 
to bring the specie from thence. O'Brien went in the 
brig that Mr. Humphreys had retained in the public 
service. By the last letter from Mr. Montgomery at 
Lisbon of the 13th February nothing had been heard 
then of O'Brien since he sailed. Indeed, if no other acci- 
dent had delayed him, the contrary winds must have pre- 
vented his return. They have been without packets 
from England for nearly two months. One vessel has 
arrived after a passage of ']6 days. It is now near six 
months since the signing of the contract, and it doubtless 
will be another mpnth before the money can be paid. 
But there are some other circumstances that serve to 
increase my apprehensions as to the result of this affair, 
as they convince me that the Dey is sincere in saying 
that the treaty is against the interest of the regency. 
Since this was done he has had a rupture with the Eng- 
lish, which is now settled, as it appears, to his satisfac- 
tion. . . . 

" In consequence of this new treaty with England he 
has refused to accept the same consul who was there 
before the rupture, but has desired that the old one may 
be sent, a Mr. Logic, who was there in 1793, and who per- 
suaded him to the truce with Portugal at that time by 
holding up the advantages of going out of the straits 
after the Americans. Sloan says he was present at some 
of these conversations, and that he saw Logic, in the pres- 



JOEL BARLOW. I2i 

ence of the Dey, instructing the captains by the charts 
where to cruise for the American ships, saying he would 
forfeit his head if they did not catch a dozen of them in 
a month, provided they would follow his directions. It 
is certain that the most inveterate enemies we have in 
that place, as well as in all others under heaven, are the 
English. But on the 26th he received letters from Mr. 
Cathcart, interpreter to the Dey, and from Mr. Donald- 
son, both saying that the Dey had fixed one month as 
the ultimate term for which he would wait for the 
money, and records his determination to go on at once, 
as it can do no harm and may save the treaty." 

Such were some of the unfavorable conditions attend- 
ing these first essays in diplomacy. That the reader may 
appreciate more fully these difficulties we will describe 
briefly the country and ruler to whose court he was hast- 
ening, using for the purpose a letter written by Mr. Bar- 
low to the Secretary of State soon after reaching his 
post. "The Regency of Algiers," he remarks, "which 
contains from two to three millions of inhabitants, is 
governed, and has been for nearly three centuries, by 
about 12,000 Turks. These Turks are natives of the 
Levant, and are enlisted and brought here as soldiers. 
They are generally ignorant and ferocious adventurers, 
and many have been guilty of crimes for which they have 
fled their country. Their pay is very small at first, but 
rises in proportion to the time they have been in service, 
and they are all eligible to any office under Government. 
They rarely marry. The laws of the Regency discourage 
in several ways the matrimony of the Turks. 

" A married Turk receives nothing but his pay. He 
that is not married, in addition to his pay, is lodged in 
the barracks and fed. Besides, if he marries a native 
woman his children are not Turks, and consequently can 
hold no ofifice, civil or military. ... It is a high crime 
for a merchant to sell any arms or ammunition to a Moor, 
and the excessive rigor of this military government has 



122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

accustomed them to consider the Turks as a superior 
race, not only as endowed with greater force, arising 
from the use of arms, but as favorites of the prophet and 
lords of the country. ... I mention these things to 
show that the Algerine Turks are not patriots. . . . The 
proper object of each individual is to enrich himself by 
plunder — the poor soldiers by marauding among the coun- 
try people, and the men in office by committing piracies 
upon all nations who do not purchase their peace by pay- 
ing large sums of money to every officer in the state, and 
annual tributes, which go into the public treasury. The 
Government was formerly an aristocracy, at least in the- 
ory. The Dey was supposed to be elected by the whole 
body of Turks, and every soldier had an equal vote. He 
was Chief Magistrate and President of the Divan, which 
was a council composed of 42 of the most ancient ofificers 
in the army. . . . But the Government has now become 
a simple monarchy. The Divan has not been assembled 
for some years, and the Dey is subject to no other check 
than that which arises from the necessity he is under to 
distribute foreign presents, and sometimes his own 
money, among the principal ofificers, to secure himself 
from assassination and prevent mutinies. ... It is nec- 
essary to observe that as the peace-presents which every 
nation makes, and generally to a large amount, go prin- 
cipally into the hands of the Dey and other great officers, 
and as the annual tributes only are destined to the public 
treasury, it is the interest of these men to break friend- 
ship with every nation as often as possible. They are 
sure to be enriched by every treaty, let the object of it 
be what it may. They use no other precaution in this 
kind of policy than that of allowing a nation to enjoy a 
peace long enough to feel the advantages of a free navi- 
gation in these seas, so far as to be willing to come for- 
ward again with this peace-offering when the rupture hap- 
pens. These breaches of peace are often made on the 
most frivolous and unjust pretences, and, generally speak- 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 23 

ing, every nation has its turn ; the only exceptions are 
France and England, whose great naval strength over- 
awes them in such a manner that their peace has been 
less interrupted. But even these powers, though they 
pretend not to pay tribute, expend a great deal of money 
in occasional presents. If peace with America should 
now take place, it will not probably last without inter- 
ruption 7 years. They are now going to war with Den- 
mark. After that it is probable they will take Venice or 
Sweden, or both. They will then try Holland again, and 
perhaps Spain, and our turn will be next. But the diffi- 
culties in treating with this regency at present arises not 
only from the constitutional character of the Govern- 
ment, but likewise from the personal character of the 
Dey, who is a man of a most ungovernable temper, pas- 
sionate, changeable, and unjust to such a degree that 
there is no calculating his policy from one moment to 
another. During the reign of the late Dey, who died in 
1791, this man held some of the first offices in the state, 
and had made himself vastly rich, particularly by the 
Spanish peace, which was the richest treaty they ever 
made. The Government of Spain did not choose to 
make known the expense of this treaty, but I am told 
that it cost to make it and maintain it till this time about 
five millions of dollars, of which this man received about 
one million. By a proper distribution of money among 
the chiefs of the Turks, this man procured his nomina- 
tion, or rather proclamation, to the Deylik the moment 
his predecessor expired. He then caused to be arrested 
and banished or put to death the principal officers of 
state who had served under the old Dey, and created a 
new set of favorites, men who are mere ciphers in his 
council, not one of whom dares to^ offer an opinion con- 
trary to his own." To this we will add the following per- 
sonal description of the Dey by General William Eaton, 
who was sent to Algiers three years later as American 
Consul. Under date of Feb. 22, 12 o'clock M., General 



124 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



Eaton writes in his diary : " Admitted to an audience with 
the Dey. Consuls O'Brien, Cathcart, and myself, Cap- 
tains Geddes, Smith, Penrose, and Maley, proceeded 
from the American House to the courtyard of the pal- 
ace, uncovered our heads, entered the area of the hall, 
ascended a winding maze of five flights of stairs to a 
narrow dark entry, leading to a contracted apartment of 
about 12 by 8 feet, the private audience-room. Here 
we took off our shoes, and, entering the cave (for so it 
seemed, with small apertures for light, with iron grates), 
we were shown to a huge, shaggy beast, sitting on his 
rump upon a low bench covered with a cushion of 
embroidered velvet, with his hind legs gathered up like 
a tailor or a bear. On our approach to him he reached 
out his fore paw as if to receive something to eat. Our 
guide exclaimed, ' Kiss the Dey's hand.' The Consul- 
General bowed very elegantly and kissed it, and we fol- 
lowed his example in succession. The animal seemed at 
that moment to be in a harmless mood ; he grinned sev- 
eral times but made very little noise. Having performed 
this ceremony, and standing a few moments in silent 
agony, we had leave to take our shoes and other prop- 
erty and leave the den, without other injury than the 
humility of being obliged in this involuntary manner to 
violate the second commandment of God and offend 
common decency." 

Such was Hassan Bashaw, Dey of Algiers, as full of 
whims and fancies as a sick child, as difficult to amuse 
and keep in a treaty-making mood as a cross bear. This 
was indeed the ambassador's chief business for the first 
six months after his arrival. The money failed to come, 
and the Dey grew both impatient and suspicious. He 
sulked and raged and threatened. When he sulked, he 
was inaccessible. When he threatened, he swore that 
the agents must go. When he raged, he declared that 
the treaty was off, and that he never would make peace 
with the Americans. 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 25 

Some very piquant and interesting details of these 
negotiations, and of the domestic life of the Algerines, 
are given in the letters written by the ambassador at 
this time to his wife in Paris. They, with Mrs. Barlow's 
in reply, were written in French (one or two in Italian), 
and, beside the account of his labors, contained grave 
disquisitions, references to personal friends, and some 
raillery. The extracts we present are literal translations. 

Algiers, March 8, 1796. 

" Here we are, at the end of our voyage. The good 
wind, of which I spoke to you in leaving Alicante, lasted 
only a little while : it changed into a terrible tempest, 
which carried away one of our masts, with some sails. 
Then, after we had been cast about for three days from 
heaven to hell, it drove us to a port which certainly 
belongs to neither, since they are not men who inhabit 
it. This port is called Algiers. Here we entered the 
harbor, but the sea was so strong that I was not able 
to land until twenty-four hours after. Here I am, then, 
weakened by the most violent sea-sickness I ever suf- 
fered. . . . 

" I find that our treaty is not yet lost, but lacks little 
of it. I hope still to save it, although the Dey is ex- 
tremely irritated. I can say nothing at this moment 
of his inclinations in this direction. He said only what 
he has repeated several times in six weeks, that if the 
money is not soon paid it will be lost to us. You can 
say to Monroe that I have more hope now than when 
I wrote to him from Alicante the last time." 

Algiers, March 14, 1796. 
** I have been here nine days in the greatest uncer- 
tainty about our business. The Dey is excessively an- 
noyed upon the subject, and I believe now that my 
first resolution, taken at Alicante, was the better — to re- 
main there until this affair was settled. On my arrival 
he threatened very strongly to send us back, Donaldson 



126 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and I, to break immediately the negotiation and to 
declare war anew. Then his wrath passed away a little, 
and the affair sleeps. I do not dare to waken it ; if I 
can make it sleep for some weeks yet, I hope that all will 
go well ; but that is perfectly uncertain, and I should not 
be at all surprised at any moment to receive orders to 
leave the country. . . . 

" It is impossible to describe this city, and the objects 
which strike one on arriving. With the exception of 
the climate, the fruit, and the natural beauty of the vicin- 
ity, it is doubtless, in all respects, the most detestable 
place one can imagine. It is a city of about 100,000 in- 
habitants, built on the ridge of a mountain which com- 
mands the harbor. It is impossible to conceive of so 
much physical and moral discomfort accumulated in a 
single place. Properly speaking, there are no streets, 
but little dark alleys, which run crosswise and zig-zag 
among an enormous heap of houses, thrown together 
without order and without number. It needs a long 
residence before being able to walk a hundred steps in 
this labyrinth without losing one's self. It needs not only 
a guide to lead you from one house to another, but also 
a Turkish guide, to guarantee you from insults and from 
being crushed by the crowd of peasants. The houses 
here are badly built and almost unfurnished. Neither 
the Turks nor the Moors ever have chairs. Their tables 
are six inches high, and sometimes one does not find one 
in a house. Their beds are straw carpets or mats ; few 
cooking utensils, no forks, and few table-knives. A 
Turk who has perhaps 100,000 piastres, and diamonds, 
lives in this manner. He goes bare-legged all the year, 
but his coat is richly gilded and his fingers adorned 
with brilliants. 

"As to society, in the first place, one sees neither 
women nor girls ; it is forbidden a Mohammedan woman, 
under penalty of a severe beating, to show her face to 
any man excepting her husband. If a Turk or Moor 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 2* 

entefs the house of a friend he must stop at the gate, 
call some one, and be announced, so that the woman of 
the house may be concealed during his visit. If a 
Mohammedan woman is taken in adultery, the law con- 
demns her to be placed in a sack with a large stone and 
be cast into the sea. And what adds to the horror of 
this usage, the husband asks and obtains permission to 
take the law into his hands, when he makes himself 
judge and executioner. The man in all these cases es- 
capes with a beating, unless the woman is of high rank, 
and in that case he is punished with death. The kind of 
punishment differs for the different sects: a Christian or 
Moor is hung; a Jew is burned alive; the Turk has the 
honor of being decapitated, or strangled in the house 
of the general executioner, who is a Turkish ofificer of 
great distinction. The present Dey has improved upon 
these rules, and almost everybody is beheaded, with the 
difference that the punishment of Infidels and Moors is 
public. Two days ago a Spanish slave was beheaded 
before the palace of the Dey for having killed two of 
his companions in the prison. The last victim of this act 
was a girl, convicted of having comforted a Christian 
last winter. She received the bastinado. 

"The number of mosques or churches is infinite in 
Algiers. They are very spacious, not at all decorated 
within ; but well lighted during the night, for it is neces- 
sary to pray there five times in the twenty-four hours — 
twice during the night. One can look in while passing 
before the door, but it is forbidden an Infidel to enter. 
The penalty for this crime is to become a Mohammedan, 
or to be hanged, or burned alive, according as one is a 
Christian or Jew. If it happens to me, through intox- 
ication or some other accident, to fall into this death, I 
shall become a Mohammedan immediately, for I have 
not enough religion of any kind to make me a martyr. 

" An incident occurred the other day which came 
near being bloody. Bacry, the Jew, our banker, a man 



128 ^^P^ "^^^ LETTERS OF 

of much merit, was with us. Some one came to call 
him with much agitation and he went out quickly. I 
sent a servant to know what was the matter. He came 
back and told me that the affair was most serious ; that 
there was a stupid Jew who had cried in the street, 
' Mohammed is the great prophet, I wish to become a 
Mussulman ' ; that they immediately led him before the 
Dey to make him keep his word and finish the conver- 
sion ; that, arrived in presence of his Majesty, his cour- 
age had failedj and he refused to change his religion. 
The penalty written against a retraction of this kind was 
death, and everybody was expecting the burning of the 
Jew that same afternoon. Luckily for the poor man, 
his protector, Bacry, has great influence with the Dey, 
and the affair was settled by means of a little money. 

Algiers, April 2, 1796. 

" It seems to-day that my sojourn here draws to a 
close, and that the business has failed. The money 
has not yet come ; the Dey does not wish to wait much 
longer. He sent us word to-day that we would be sent 
back in eight days ; that then war would be declared ; 
that he will then give thirty days before taking prizes, as 
is the custom when they declare war here ; but if the 
money comes during these thirty days he will receive it and 
the peace will be concluded. We send an express coUTier 
by Tangier and Gibraltar to take this news to our com- 
patriots. It is on this occasion that I send these letters." 

April %. — "I have most agreeable news to announce 
regarding our country and our miserable slaves who are 
here. The Dey, after some threats, some injuries, some 
insupportable insults, has consented to give us still three 
months to get our money. If it does not come within 
that time, to the devil with the treaty and all those who 
have made it fail. This business for three days has over- 
whelmed me with trouble and pain. The port is open. 
This letter goes straight to Marseilles to-morrow. M. 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 29 

Andrews goes day after to-morrow. I will send you a 
word by him." 

Under the above date — April 5 — Mr. Barlow wrote to 
Colonel Humphreys concerning the prisoners and the 
treaty, which we will insert here in place of the letters 
to his wife referring to the same matter. The letter was 
also signed by Mr. Donaldson. 

Algiers, April 5, 1796. 

"Sir: — After finishing our despatches on the 3d inst., 
to send by the courier to Tangier, we found that the port 
was to be opened immediately. We therefore gave up 
that mode of conveyance for a more direct and speedy 
one by way of Alicante. We have now what we hope 
will be more agreeable news to announce. For two days 
past we have been witnesses to a scene of as complete 
and poignant distress as can be imagined, arising from 
the state of total despair in which our captives found 
themselves involved, and we without the power of ad- 
ministering the least comfort or hope. The threat which 
we mentioned to you in our last, of sending us away, had 
been reiterated with every mark of a fixed and final de- 
cision, and the Dey went so far as to declare that after 
the thirty days, if the money did not come, he never 
would be at peace with the Americans. 

" Bacry, the Jew, who has as much art in this sort of 
management as any man we ever knew, who has more 
influence with the Dey than all the Regency put together, 
and who alone has been able to soothe his impatience on 
this subject for three months past, now seemed unable 
to make the least impression, and the Dey finally forbade 
him, under pain of his highest displeasure, to speak to 
him any more about the Americans. His cruisers are 
now out, and for some days past he has been occupied 
with his new war against the Danes. Three days ago 
the Danish prizes began to come in, and it was thought 
that this circumstance might put him in good humor, so 
9 



I30 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



that the Jew might find a chance of renewing our subject 
in some shape or other. And we instructed the Jew 
that if he could engage him in conversation on his cruis- 
ers and prizes, he might offer him a new American-built 
ship of twenty guns, which should sail very fast, to be 
presented to his daughter, on condition that he would 
vv^ait six months longer for our money. The Jew ob- 
served that we had better say a ship of twenty-four guns, 
to which we agreed. After seeing him three or four 
times yesterday, under pretence of other business, with- 
out being able to touch upon this, he went this morning 
and succeeded. The novelty of the proposition gained 
the Dey's attention for a moment, and he consented to 
see us on the subject. But he told the Jew to tell us 
that it must be a ship of thirty-six guns or he would not 
listen to the proposition. We were convinced that we 
ought not to hesitate a moment. We accordingly went, 
and consented to his demand, and he has agreed to let 
everything remain as it is for the term of three months 
from this day, but desired us to remember that not a 
single day beyond that will be allowed on any account. 
We consider the business as now settled on this footing, 
and it is the best ground that we could possibly place it 
upon. You still have it in your power to say peace or 
no peace ; you have an alternative. In the other case, 
war was inevitable, and there would have been no hope 
of peace during the reign of this Dey. ... In order to 
save the treaty, which has been the subject of infinite 
anxiety and vexation, we found it necessary some time 
ago to make an offer to the Jew of ten thousand sequins 
(18,000 dollars), to be paid eventually if he succeeded, 
and to be distributed by him, at his discretion, among 
such great officers of state as he thought necessary, and 
as much of it to be kept for himself as he could keep 
consistent with success. The whole of this new arrange- 
ment will cost the United States about fifty-three thou- 
sand dollars. We expect to incur blame because it is im- 



JOEL BARLOW. I^i 

possible to give you a complete view of the circum- 
stances, but we are perfectly confident of having acted 
right." 

We continue the narrative by means of the letters to 
Mrs. Barlow. 

Beginning with one of April 13th: . . . . " I am now all 
alone, and so crazed with business that I have not time 
to think one moment of my other troubles. You will 
see by this packet what work I do. But I am so much 
happier since we have got our affairs on some footing 
that I care nothing for the fatigue. I do not intend to 
go to Tunis, but will come home as soon as possible. 
My love, I don't know what I write. I have sat at this 
table with very little intermission for thirty-six hours." 

April 26. — " I sent you, a few days ago, a very great 
packet for Monroe and the Secretary of State. I do 
the like now. If these ^two arrive safe they will give 
you a tolerable idea of what I have done and thought ; 
and they will prove at least, and to others as well as to 
you, that I have not been idle. Nothing has come from 
Humphreys since Feb. 7, and then, and before then, as 
good as nothing. . . . All would have been finished be- 
fore now, and $6o,ock> saved to the United States, if we 
had had a good banker's clerk at a certain place for a 
minister. ... I told you that Donaldson wa^ gone to 
Leghorn, and Andrews back to France. I am alone. 
But here is a very good society if I had time to enjoy it, 
and a charming country to promenade a pied et a cheval. 
The Dey has given me a very fine horse, and I can bor- 
row a saddle. We are going to make a little journey 
one of these days," 

May 2)tk. — " Our business here has been about the same 
for a month. No news from Lisbon nor from Liborne. 
I remain alone and I work like a slave. I sent to-day a 
large packet for Lisbon and for Philadelphia. If Donald- 
son comes with the money to finish here, he will go to 
Tunis and I shall fly to your arms. If he does not come 



Q> 



132 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



I shall be driven from here, so I shall be free soon in any 
case. I shall have now very little to do after the depart- 
ure of the ship which carries this. Then I shall try to 
amuse myself in my garden, — for I have taken a country 
house here for the sake of appearances, as they believe 
me a fixed consul, and will think when I go, it is to bring 
my wife and other necessities for a long residence. Ah, 
well ! I shall bring her whenever she and I consent to 
bury ourselves in Barbary." 

In May the plague, the scourge of the African coast, 
broke out in Algiers with virulence. The poet's descrip- 
tion of it in letters to James Monroe, then our Minister 
to Paris, to Colonel Humphreys, and to hiswife are of 
exceeding interest. To Mr. Monroe he wrote on the 
31st of May, 1796: " My letter having been detained by 
the detention of the ship, I have now to add the fright- 
ful news that the plague has broken out at Algiers. It is 
four months later than the usual season for it to appear. 
It usually commences in February and begins to go off 
in June. The hot, dry weather kills it in this country, so 
that we hope it will not be severe nor last long. One of 
our poor fellows is attacked and will probably die. I am 
trying to get leave for them to quit their work and come 
into the country near me, where I have taken a house and 
garden for them, to save as many as I can." 

And to Colonel Humphreys, June 12th : "Two of our 
finest young fellows, Nicholas Hartford, of Portsmouth, 
and Abraham Simmonds, of Cape Ann, have already 
fallen." (The Dey would not consent that the prisoners 
should go into the country.) " They were not yet paid 
for ; they were therefore the property of the Regency, 
and if he should consent to such an unusual proceeding, 
he said, it would bring the Turks upon him in a body. 
Indeed, of all governments in the world this is perhaps 
the least susceptible of innovation in the most trifling 
usage, especially on the side fortified by religion, of 
which a contempt of disease, and an obstinate refusal to 



JOEL BARLOW. 1^3 

use precautions against the plague, are among the strong- 
est features," 

And again, June i6th : " Since my last, Joseph Keith, a 
native of Newfoundland, one of our mates, has died with 
the plague. Lunt is still in »the hospital, and John 
Thomas,' a black man from Massachusetts. The conta- 
gion rages with greater severity than was expected." In 
the midst of. the pestilence, stimulated thereto by the 
suffering and danger to which his countrymen were ex- 
posed, he succeeded in effecting their delivery, accom- 
plishing it by a stratagem worthy of Machiavelli. An 
interesting account of it is contained in a letter which 
the liberated captives bore from him to Thomas Jeffer- 
son, Secretary of State. He wrote : — 

" I have the pleasure at last to announce the liberation 
of our citizens from slavery in this place. To keep the 
peace after the expiration of the time limited for the 
payment, and finally to redeem our people without any 
money, has been a subject of more difficulty and vexa- 
tion than will be imagined by those w^ho are unac- 
quainted with the capricious and savage character of the 
Dey. A few weeks after the arrangement made in 
April, having heard nothing from the funds, and foresee- 
ing that they probably would not be here by the time, 
I thought it highly expedient to engage the Dey in a 
step of his own by which he should be insensibly brought 
to consider the peace as established on a footing different 
from that of the punctuality of a moment in the pay- 
ment of money. Mr. Cathcart, from the office he held, 
enjoyed a portion of his flighty confidence. I thought it 
probable that if he could be engaged, as from his own 
mere motion, to send this man to America on the subject 
of the peace-presents and annual tribute, it would give a 
new turn to his contemplations : he would be looking to 
America for answers and arrivals instead of counting the 
days in which he was looking to me for money. But it 
was necessary that neither he nor Cathcart should know 



134 L^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

that the idea came from me ; and even his Jew Brobar, 
who was the only man who could engage him in this 
business, must not know my real motive. The Jew hated 
Cathcart and wished him away ; this was sufficient for 
the Jew, and I engaged him to hint the matter to the 
Dey in such a manner as that he should conceive the 
project to be his own. . . . The plan was properly man- 
aged at the time, and Cathcart was sent in the manner I 
stated to you in my letter by him. I believe it is in a 
great measure owing to the circumstance of this mission 
that we are now at peace with Algiers. My being able 
to procure the liberation of the captives at this time has 
been owing to an accident. Money has been extremely 
scarce here for some months back. The Jew house who 
serve as our brokers, and who do the greater part of the 
business here, have had their funds for some time in the 
hands of the French Government to the amount of half a 
million dollars. The operations of some other houses 
for a year past had centred nearly in the same point, so 
that there was no money left except in the public treas- 
ury. Though I had so far gained the confidence of the 
Jews that they declared to me that they would advance 
the money to the amount of the redemption if it could 
be raised, I had very little faith in these professions, 
because I believed they said so under the idea that the 
money could not be had in the town. The plague broke 
out in the latter end of May, and very much increased 
my anxiety for the fate of our people. Some time in 
June a new French Consul arrived, and by some brilliant 
presents revived the influence of the Republic with the 
Dey so as to borrow from the public treasury about 
$200,000, which he paid into their Jew house. I imme- 
diately insisted that they should prove the sincerity of 
their friendship by lending me this sum, and as much 
more as the redemption would amount to, for which I 
would give them my bills on Mr. Donaldson at Leg- 
horn." This argument proved unanswerable to the Dey, 



JOEL BARLOW. 135 

and the strange spectacle was presentea of his lending 
the American Consul the very money which was paid in 
for the ransom of his prisoners. The prisoners once at 
his command, Barlow hastened to ship them out of the 
country before the mind of the fickle ruler should change. 
The American brig Sophia, Captain Calder, was then in 
port, and on her the redeemed captives were at once em- 
barked and despatched to Marseilles, on their way to 
America, They bore a letter from their deliverer ad- 
dressed to the Secretary of State, which did equal credit 
to his head and heart. It was as follows : 

" Sir : — This will be presented to you by the remnant 
of our captive citizens who have survived the pains and 
humiliation of slavery in this place. After effecting 
their deliverance in the manner which I state to you in 
my letter of this day, without funds or even any direct 
intelligence that they are soon to be expected, I have 
another task to perform, in which it is irr^ossible to 
promise myself success : it is to embark them without 
the infection of the plague. Five of their fellow-sufferers 
have died of the contagion and another who is attacked 
must be left behind. It still rages with such violence in 
the town that, although they cannot embark without 
risk, yet it is much more dangerous for them to stay. If 
they escape infection we shall be much indebted to 
Captain Calder, who commands the ship, and to the care- 
ful assistance of the other captains who inspect the em- 
barkation. 

" When we reflect on the extravagant sums of money 
that this redemption will cost the United States, it 
affords at least some consolation to know that it is not 
expended on worthless and disorderly persons, as is the 
case with some nations who are driven, like us, to this 
humiliation to the Barbary States. Our people have 
conducted themselves in general with a degree of pa- 
tience and decorum which would become a better con- 
dition than that of slaves. And though, after they are 



136 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



landed in'their country, it would be useless to recommend 
them to any additional favors from Government, yet I 
hope they will receive from merchants that encourage- 
ment in their professional industry which will enable 
them in some measure to repair their losses, and from 
their fellow-citizens in general that respect Avhich is due 
the sufferings of honest men. Several of them are prob- 
ably rendered incapable of gaining a living : one is in a 
/ state of total blindness, another is reduced nearly to the 
' same condition, two or three carry the marks of unmer- 
ciful treatment in ruptures produced by hard labor, oth- 
ers have had their constitutions injured by the plague. 
Some of these are doubtless objects of the charity of 
their countrymen, but whether this charity should flow 
to them through the channel of the Federal Government 
is a question on which it would be impertinent in me to 
offer an opinion." 

The deliverer was himself, however, far from being 
delivered from the perils of his position. The payment 
of the money borrowed was yet to be made and the 
treaty effected. He stayed with a fair probability of 
dying with the plague, or, if fortunate enough to escape 
that, in constant peril of losing his head from the caprice 
of the Dey should the money fail to come or any incident 
occur to excite his anger. He was kept here nearly a 
year longer through the criminal carelessness or indiffer- 
ence of his superiors, as the following letters to Mrs. 
Barlow show : 

Algiers, Aug. 30, 1796. 

" You know M. Skjoldebrand, Consul-General of Sweden 
to Algiers ; he will give you this letter, and will answer 
a thousand questions about your friend. You cannot 
show him too much attention or friendship. He has 
given the greatest service both to our affairs and to me 
personally, and it is necessary for me to call to my aid all 
my friends to fulfil the duty of being useful to him 
which he has imposed on me." 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 37 

Algiers, Sept. i, 1796. 
" Without a patience above all trial, and indomitable 
courage, and a management which will never be compre- 
hended by our Government, all would have been lost a 
hundred times. The Consul of Denmark said the other 
day in his society, * The American agent is not a man, he 
is an angel that God has sent to save the interests of his 
country.' And our poor slaves, what tender scenes at 
the moment of their departure, what benedictions, what 
tears of gratitude ! They all said that without me, 
and without the operations which have astonished them, 
they would all have perished in slavery. And that is 
true. As to the operations, they have attributed to me 
more than I have done ; but they are certainly indebted 
to me for their libert)^ and their life, for if this treaty 
had been broken it would have been impossible to con- 
clude another for many years, and without spending 
three times, perhaps ten times, as much money. I re- 
main still without means, without money, and without 
credit. The affairs at Tunis are not yet arranged, nor 
those of the two ships taken at Tripoli. I hope to finish 
all business soon : but how ? I have not yet the orders 
to make peace with Tunis, and still less the funds. I act 
without orders and without money. Nothing is equal to 
the negligence of our public agents, unless the folly and 
temerity of our mariners. If it were not for interests 
other than theirs I would leave these people at Tripoli to 
their fate. They merit slavery of ten years for having 
come within these seas before peace was made. ... It 
is true that this announces the probability of a longer 
absence. Unhappily, I cannot speak with any certainty 
of my return. If Donaldson comes with the money, as I 
expect every instant, I can go quickly afterward. But 
who can tell? His path is blockaded. . . . You will 
find here an Italian song, quite pretty, with the music. 
The Swedish Consul gave it to me. He plays very well." 



138 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



Algiers, Sept. 7, 1796. 
" Since my letter of the first of the month I have been 
overwhelmed with work. I sent to-day two packets of 
thirty pages of close writing to Lisbon and Philadelphia. 
I am the only American slave in Algiers, and I work like 
a dozen. I am always in perfect health. ... I begin to 
see, I think, the end of my sojourn here." 

Algiers, Sept. 8, 1796. 

" Now that the plague is over the quarantine will not 
be so long. It will probably be only 25 days. You are 
mistaken in supposing that at Marseilles they make it on 
board ship. There is a very convenient lazaretto, sep- 
arated like a quarter of the city. . . . 

" If Trumbull remains in Paris tell him to make a very 
pretty portrait of you for me — large ; I will pay him. 
He can also prepare his brushes for a Barbaresque figure 
when I come myself. Do not fail to withdraw my books 
from Relieur. I have left my note for them. They are 
many and precious." 

Algiers, Sept. 25, 1796. 

" It is nine months to-day since my unhappy departure 
for this cursed country. If Hitchborn had come (as he 
was engaged before my arrival in Hamburg) he would 
have let the treaty go to the devil to get out of the bus- 
iness, as his son advised me very strongly. But I, who 
have too much obstinacy to be discouraged so quickly, 
and who would wish to die Hke a good soldier in the last 
ditch, have taken the part of disputing, inch by inch, and 
of not yielding till after the last efforts. But it seems at 
last that my efforts, except in liberating the prisoners, 
are in vain. 

" Humphreys writes that he sent the money from Lis- 
bon two months ago. The ship passed through Gibral- 
tar 44 days ago ; the wind has been good ; the ship does 
not come ; it is probably taken or lost. I am waiting to 
know the truth. If it comes I can quickly finish the 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 39 

business ; if it does not come I shall be driven from 
Algiers, and farewell to the peace with Barbary for a half 
century, or until our wise Government finds by sure 
geography that Lisbon is not Algiers. I am very well ; 
in perfect health and full of that energy inspired by the 
feeling of having done my duty. The Government can 
blame me or not, that is perfectly indifferent to me : my 
happiness by no means depends on it. I do not value 
the commission of any Government so much as to do 
good to humanity. I have just learned, by way of Spain, 
that our unfortunates have come to Marseilles to make 
quarantine ; and that still another one died of the plague 
in the passage. Poor fellows ! if they had stayed here 
six weeks longer half of them would have fallen ; the 
sickness was very great after their departure. It has now 
totally disappeared for more than a month." 

Algiers, Oct. 9, 1796. 

" Long live the Republic ! All kinds of good fortune 
have happened to me at once. O'Brien came the first 
of this month with nearly two-thirds of the money that I 
owe here. But it is certainly enough to establish our 
business and let me withdraw 

*' Now I see clearly the end of my painful work. The 
times are much changed here now. I will attempt to 
picture some of these scenes for you some day. It is 
necessary to tell you that O'Brien has been taken by the 
Tripolitans. His was one of those two ships that I have 
announced to Monroe taken by a Tripolitan corsair : and 
the captain of the corsair is an English renegade, as I 
said. After three weeks O'Brien was released by the Bey, 
as he was afraid of the Dey of Algiers, believing that the 
money belonged to him, as the ship had the passport of 
the Dey. The other ship was broken up and the cargo 
confiscated. When I obtained an audience to announce 
to the Dey the arrival of the money, he seized my right 
hand, put my left on his heart, and said, ' My friend, 



140 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



you have greatly suffered by the inconceivable delay of 
that money. I have troubled you much ; I've treated 
you with severity. I have had, however, much patience. 
The enemies of your nation have done all in order to 
ruin you. I have always felt something in the depth of 
my heart which has told me, " This man is true and good ; 
he is not capable of falsehood." Now you are well recom- 
pensed for your constancy and sufferings. Your nation 
is brave and worthy ; so long as I live I will be your 
friend in spite of the English, who were always seeking 
to ruin her in my estimation. Now if there is anything 
in the world I can do for you, speak.' * My lord,' I 
said to him, ' for myself it matters nothing. The inter- 
ests of my nation open my mouth. The Tunisians and 
the Tripolitans make a cruel war against us. For some 
time I have proposed peace, asking him his terms, to the 
Bey of Tunis. He told me that he would grant it for 
fifty thousand piastres. I have consented to these terms 
as soon as I shall be able to draw up a letter. But, in the 
interval, he has taken one of our ships, so it seems that 
he does not wish to keep his word. The Bey of Tripoli 
has taken two of our ships. He has destroyed one of 
them ; the other he wishes to return to us for fear of 
being destroyed himself by your wrath. But this was 
only after having scorned your passport by keeping a 
long time the ship loaded with your money: and his 
renegade Englishman who serves him as captain has 
insulted your power by saying he does not recognize the 
Dey of Algiers. Now I ask one letter from your hand to 
the Bey of Tunis to force him immediately to keep his 
word and conclude the peace for fifty thousand piastres, 
and to return to me the prisoners and the ship. It is a 
just ransom ; he has promised once to accept it. It is for 
you, as the father of Justice, as you are, to hold these 
people to the right and to their word, and save the honor 
of Barbary. 

" ' As to Tripoli, I am going to offer 40,000 piastres, in 



JOEL BARLOW. I^I 

all, for the peace and the prisoners. I ask you for a 
letter for the Bey, forcing him to give me these terms 
precisely, to ask your pardon for the insult done to your 
passport, and to send you the head of this renegade 
English captain for the outrage he has done you in not 
recognizing your power and your name.' 

" ' My friend,' replied the Dey, * you have not asked 
enough : you have not the money : prepare your ship to 
go immediately with Captain O'Brien : I give you all the 
money for the two places : O'Brien will carry them. I 
give you letters strong enough to make your propositions, 
which are only too just, immediately accepted. It is the 
last time I shall write to the Bey of Tripoli. If he does 
not send me immediately with your ship the treaty of 
peace and this Englishman in chains, to give me the 
pleasure of cutting off his head, I will send sixty thousand 
men to cut off the head of the Bey. For paying the 
90,000 piastres that I give you, your nation can send 
them to me when she pleases. I find that she is just — 
you are wise and humble — I am her friend and yours,' 

" My tears flowed in response, and I took leave. 

"All is arranged; O'Brien goes to-morrow. He will 
return, I hope, in a month with the two treaties ; after 
that I can quickly depart. If the Englishman comes, I 
will save him. You will say this is a romance or a dream : 
not at all ; this is the strictest truth." 

Algiers, Oct, 12. 
"O'Brien was taken by the Tripolitans, with 225,000 
piastres, coming from Lisbon. I was truly on the point 
of being driven from here, with war declared ; and I 
should not have blamed the Dey if he had done it, put- 
ting me in chains the same time, his patience had been 
so long used and abused. Suddenly O'Brien came, re- 
leased from Tripoli, with his cargo. I saw the Dey of 
Algiers changed from a tiger to a lamb ; transformed from 
a fierce tyrant to the gentlest of men. I seized the 

r 



142 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



moment for making a great stroke : I demanded instruc- 
tive and compulsory letters to the Beys of Tunis and 
Tripoli, that they should make peace without delay, and 
on the precise terms that I proposed ; . . . . in fact, O'Brien 
has gone with the money, with the letters, with the pres- 
ents of the Dey and myself, and with the necessary 
power from me. I have reason to believe that he will 
soon return with the two treaties ; I shall then think our 
peace with Barbary is the most solid of all nations here ; 
after that I shall take leave quickly. 

*' There are two things which trouble me in this busi- 
ness : the Venetians declared war the same day O'Brien 
went away; the Consul here is the victim of my suc- 
cess ; it lacks little that the balance should turn the other 
way. 

" Peter Lyle, the renegade English captain, in the service 
of Tripoli, who took our two ships, and is a good fellow, 
will certainly be beheaded. I am very sorry for it. Ask 
Monroe if I have done wrong. 

" It seems that our Government has approved all that I 
have done at the beginning. I do not know what it will 
say when it knows that, without a sou, I have sent back 
the captives at a time when the city was all pestilence ; 
that, without a sou, I have sustained the peace for three 
months after all limits were passed ; and that the first 
money which came, I borrowed from the Dey for an- 
other object. I must tell you that without the knowledge 
at Philadelphia, that the Tunisians had made a surprise. 
The President gave me orders to give them a sum four 
times as large as I shall probably make peace for, even 
while treating under the disaster of a ship taken, and in- 
cluding the ransom of the prize and the sailors. 

"Another large ship, richly ladened, the Betsy, of 
Boston, Captain Sampson, has been taken at Tripoli : 
the crew are in slavery ; they will soon be free." 



JOEL BARLOW. I43 

Algiers, Oct. 19. 
" Our business goes on wonderfully. I shall probably 
leave in six weeks. I am master of the battle-field. If 
Victory is no more flighty than usual, she will give this 
field to the honor of our nation for long years." 

Algiers, Nov. 20. 
" I have had some trouble with Tunis and Tripoli ; but 
all is arranged : the Dey plays well the part I have given 
him. I await O'Brien from day to day. They think 
I shall be able to leave in fifteen or twenty days." 

Algiers, Nov. 20. 

" Always new difificulties ; still trouble with the Bey of 
Tunis. This man, profoundly wicked, has found some pre- 
texts for increasing his pretensions : notwithstanding the 
letters of the Dey of Algiers, he has had the impudence 
to demand of O'Brien three times more than he himself 
proposed formerly. On this occasion, I put to the test 
the friendship and attachment which the Dey has for me, 
and found them stronger than ever. I played so well 
upon his passions, above all, self-love, honor, and friend- 
ship for me, that the Bey of Tunis is certainly lost. You 
would not believe that I came to Barbary to behead 
kings ; I shall have, however, the pleasure of dethroning 
one. If every Jacobin could do as much, the face of the 
world would be changed. 

" My business seems now to be perfectly arranged. The 
Bey has already cried for mercy, saying that peace is al- 
ready made with the Americans, precisely as the Dey 
wished it ; and he hopes to be pardoned for his indiscre- 
tion. But he is too late, he has not three months to 
live. 

** Everybody here is astonished at this stroke of policy. 
There is nothing surprising, however ; the Dey is of a cer- 
tain temperament — difficult to manage, but easy to cap- 
tivate. I have had to play here, for seven months, a role 
the most sad, painful, and desperate. I have conducted 



144 ^^"^-^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

myself only as a man of good sense, patriotism, and 
humanity would have done. It surprises me a little, I 
confess ; I was surrounded by enemies. By a natural 
movement of the human heart he put himself on guard 
against them. Without being sure of the sincerity of 
our Government, he saw in my tranquillity and constancy 
something which won him. Finally, the end of this 
strange comedy — namely, the discovery of the truth of 
what I had said — flattered his heart, pre-occupied in my 
favor without knowing why. To-day he would give me 
his beard, hair by hair, if I should ask it ; but this humor 
cannot last long, for caprice is the first of his virtues ; if 
his favor lasts while I am obliged to remain here it is all 
I can hope for." 

Algiers, Dec. 25. 
" Nothing important." 

Algiers, Dec. 30. 

"What I told you, that the Bey of Tunis cried for 
mercy, was true at the time ; he did it in a moment of 
fright ; but that circumstance having passed, he broke 
everything. There is a long story, details of which I can- 
not give you ; the result is, that after many examples, of 
perfidy on the part of the Bey, the Dey has sent fifty 
thousand ambassadors on horseback, well armed, to 
negotiate my affairs in Tunis. These good negotiators 
ought to bring the head of the Bey to me and his treas- 
ures to the Dey. At that price our peace is assured 
with the successor whom it shall please our friend to 
place on the throne of Tunis. 

" All is happily ended at Tripoli. O'Brien is en route 
for here, and I expect from day to day the end of the 
afifair in Tunis ; after that I shall embark immediately for 
Spain, and my return to Paris will be as precipitant as 
though I had been beaten. 

" I hear, to my great regret, that our excellent friend 
Monroe is going to leave Paris, replaced by a man whom 



JOEL BARLOW. I^e 

I think an aristocrat. I hope this change will not hap- 
pen before my arrival in Paris ; I know well our Gov- 
ernment has lost his energy with his wisdom. We had 
last week a great hunting-party to the Numidians. The 
Minister of the Marine, son of the late Dey, invited us 
— the consuls of England and Sweden and the father of 
all consuls, for so they call your poor husband — to a 
wild-boar hunt. It was fifteen miles distant in the forest. 
We were three days absent, and slept two nights under 
tents. We were all well mounted, hunting with the lance 
like the ancients. We killed fourteen sangliers (wild- 
boars) and one hyena. I must tell you, for I was there 
and saw all, although I did not shed a drop of blood that 
day. Two hours after midday I was so excessively fa- 
tigued that I dismounted, leaving all the honor to my two 
sons. The day of our return, the Dey asked the Minister 
why the American was fatigued ; he said because the 
American had a horse hard to manage. That was a lie ; 
the horse was excellent, but the horseman was worth noth- 
ing. But the Dey said, ' To-morrow I will send him one 
of the best from my stable.' Next day the horse came. 
He can give me two hundred, it will never make me a 
horseman, and I shall never go again to the chase : it is a 
good thing to see, but nothing more. 

" You are proprietor of half of a ship ; the other half be- 
longs to a friend whom you will see some day. The ship 
is called the Friendship, commanded by Captain Samp- 
son, of Boston, a brave man, recently captured at Tripoli. 
The ship is in good condition : I have bought it here 
and sold half of it ; the other half I give to you. I 
have ordered the captain to sail with it as much as he 
pleases and send the gains to Wm. Biddle, at Boston ; I 
have written to him to place the money, as it comes, 
in United States funds in the name of Ruthy Barlow, 
a woman that he once knew. Behold your fortune 
made ! " 



146 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Feb. 6, 1797. 

" I have been in despair for some time on account of 
the delay of news from Tunis. To-day I received letters 
which console me, but they necessitate my remaining 
here almost another month. Another courier is needed 
to finish the treaty ; this one I shall send away in an 
hour, and he ought to return in sixteen days — say twenty, 
and then ten days to leave here ! 

" The Swedish Consul wrote from Paris to his brother, 
Dec. 3, that he had taken tea with you, and praises your 
intellect and grace. 

" The brigantine Friendship came safely from Tunis, 
delivered her cargo, and has been chartered at $450 a 
month to my friend the Ambassador of France, to carry 
him to Tripoli, and then to Naples : this service ended, it 
will go to America. It is a ship of 150 tons. 

" The other ship, called the Rachel, is 250 tons. It 
went out day before yesterday to take a cargo to Spain. 
Both are chartered. I let the captains sail where they 
wish, with orders to place the gains with Biddle, in 
Boston. 

Feh. i^th, 17^7. 

" I have had no news from Humphreys for four 
months, from Philadelphia for eight. I shall expect 
them till after my departure, and then I shall cease to 
trouble the affairs of Barbary. All will go to the devil, to 
whom I give it, with all those who neglect their duty so 
plainly. I have never had the least idea that the Govern- 
ment would follow my advice. I did not wish, however, 
to fail in giving it, but once out of Africa I promise to 
keep my mouth shut. Our engagements with Barbary 
will be forgotten ; there will be war, that is the end. It 
will, no doubt, be very hard for me to see undone a 
work which has cost so many sacrifices. If Monroe goes 
before I return, I pray you tell him to watch the Barbary 
affairs. If he asks what he can do at Philadelphia, beg 
him only to engage the new President to read my letters 



JOEL BARLOW. 



147 



in the Bureau of the Secretary. If it is Jefferson he will 
not fail to be instructed, but if it is a new man of a dif- 
ferent cast probably a Barbary war will not be the great- 
est evil to come." 

Algiers, March ^th. 
" The Swedish ship for Alicante, of which I wrote you, 
goes to-day without me. Nothing hinders but the delay 
of my courier from Tunis. This cursed affair drags on, 
and it is impossible to say when it will end." 

April id. 

" I received from my agent at Tunis certain news that 
the peace with that country is finally concluded. He 
has delayed my courier for a few days only, to insure the 
treaty. I expect him every moment. I have arranged 
with a good ship and captain to take me to Marseilles, 
and I can go in five or six days. One thing may still hin- 
der me : I have expected for six months a ship from Phila- 
delphia bearing presents for this nation. (It is a shame- 
ful thing for the Government, very mortifying to me 
and vexing to the Dey that it has not come sooner.) If 
it comes before my departure it will be necessary to re- 
main here twenty days longer to unload it. 

" Give a thousand thanks to my good son Powlikowski 
for his interesting letter." 

Maf i^th, 1797. 

"I would not have believed, fifteen days ago, that I 
should still be here. All is prepared : I only wait for 
the treaty from Tunis. The sickness of a minister, they 
assure me, has only hindered the registering of the signa- 
ture ; and they do not know the extent of my haste, so 
they let the affair delay. I expect every moment the ar- 
rival of the treaty." 

May 2'i,tk, 1797. 

" I have nearly taken leave, and the large ship is here to 
carry me to Marseilles, but it is necessary to remain fif- 
teen days. The cursed ship coming with presents for 



148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the Dey from Philadelphia has been taken by the Span- 
iards. They shall pay for it ; the Dey threatens them 
strongly with war. This affair has given me much trou- 
ble, but the Dey says he will send me back with great 
honor." 

June ^th, 1797. 
" My ship on which I shall go is not yet ready, having 
some unloading to do." 

July 17 th, 1797. 

" Our Government has praised me much for the opera- 
tions of last year. If they should reckon the sacrifices 
I have made, I merit still more for this one. I am al- 
most sure of going before the end of the month." 

This was the last letter from Algiers. On the i8th of 
July, 1797, having released the prisoners and effected 
treaties with Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, he sailed for Mar- 
seilles ; but on arriving there on the 30th found himself 
condemned to the lazaretto for forty days' fumigation — 
he had come from a port infected with the dreaded plague. 
A score of letters, very much stained and crumpled by 
the fumigation they underwent, remain as the fruit of 
his pen during this interval. He wrote to his wife every 
other day — letters gay, sparkling, exuberant in his joy at 
being so near her, and as ardent and lover-like as those 
written under the elms of New Haven. One or two of 
these will serve to show the character of all. " Mar- 
seilles," he exclaims in the first letter written from the 
lazaretto, " Marseilles ! How pretty the name is ! It is 
necessary to write it again — Marseilles ! There ! But it 
merits better writing. It is the most harmonious, the 
sweetest, the most charming word which can strike the 
ear of a returner escaped from hell. All the letters that 
compose it are either vowels or liquids, which roll like 
honey and melt in the mouth ; for example, M is a liquid 
letter, which the infant pronounces even in nursing ; it 
says 'mama,' and in any language that letter is never 



JOEL BARLOW. I^q 

lost from the name of that beloved person who bears 
and nourishes us : Mama, mere, madre, mater, mother, 
moder, morhnma, etc. 

" A — it is the first letter in all the alphabets, and the 
most easy of all the vowels. 

" R — another liquid, which rolls rapidly, and which 
forms the principal character in the sound of my name, 
which is Barlow. 

" S — a liquid which sighs sometimes, but rolls always. 

'' Ei — two vowels, which form a diphthong always agree- 
able in French, and especially agreeable when it stands 
before the two I's which come rolling to terminate with 
the little 

" e — almost mute, the dear name of Marseilles." 

August 1st, 1797. 

" Behold me, then, dear friend, well established in the 
lazaretto since yesterday evening, in the most agreeable 
place in the world. It would be difficult to form an 

idea of the satisfaction I felt on landing I came 

on my ship named the Rachel, commanded by Philip 
Sloan. I never had such a voyage — gentle and calm nav- 
igation of twelve days, of which I was sick only the first. 
.... The Consuls of France, Spain, and England gave 
me passports, and forbade the cruisers of their nations to 
stop me in my voyage. The Dey made me a present 
more superb than he has ever made, they say, on a like 
occasion. Then he charged me with a little present for 
you, something which is certainly not the custom. In 
presenting it to me he said, * Carry that to your wife, and 
tell her to go with you to Constantinople, as she does 
not wish to come to Algiers.' I have another present 
for you from my friend Micay Baccry, and that is not all. 

" I wear large mustaches — long, beautiful, and black (a 
little gray, however). Do you wish I shall cut them here, 
or do you wish to see them and cut them yourself? It is 
necessary to say why I let them grow. There is a prov- 



ISO 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



erb which is only too true, although very humiliating for 
humanity, ' Who makes himself mutton, the wolf eats ' : 
nowhere is this so useful as in Barbary. I discovered 
that on arriving there, and as I am a lamb at heart it was 
necessary for me to conceal this character beneath the 
exterior of some other animal, and my mustaches give 
me very nearly the air of the tiger, a beast which the 
wolf does not eat. They have been very useful in my 
business ; I attach to them no value, except as a souve- 
nir of the services they have rendered me. I place 
them on your altars ; pronounce their fate. 

" I have never enjoyed so perfect health as in this cli- 
mate. I am not so fat as I was last year, but never so 
clean before." 



JOEL BARLOW. jcj 



CHAPTER VII. 
^ 1797-1805. 

On the nth of September the tedious quarantine was 
finished, and the exile hastened to his wife and friends 
in Paris. The city was the same, but the Republic had 
changed. The victories of the young general, Bona- 
parte, in Italy, had given her prestige, and put an entirely 
different face on the politics of Europe. The strained 
nature of French relations with America alone gave the 
poet uneasiness. Restored to his wife, his books, his 
friends, he settled down to a life of scholarly and literary 
retirement, enough disturbed by incursions of business, 
society, and politics to prevent its becoming stagnant. 
In a letter to Donaldson, written in 1800, he estimates 
his losses by the mission to Algiers at $20,000 ; but this 
was probably a hypothetical loss — the amount which he 
would have made had he remained. His fortune, thanks 
to the prudent management of his wife, had been kept 
intact ; indeed, by the rise in French securities, of which 
he held or controlled a large block, it had been con- 
siderably added to. A future of happiness and con- 
tentment seemed his lot. His chief occupations for the 
next seven years were of a literary character, though he 
watched with intensest interest the progess of political 
movements in both Europe and America. We will no- 
tice first his literary enterprises : fiction excepted, these 
covered the entire range of literature — poetry, history, 
translations, and essays on political, economic, and scien- 
tific questions. His activity in this direction was in- 
tense. A vast array of notes and the prospectus for a 
contemplated " History of the P'rench Revolution " were 
prepared at this time. He had published, before accept- 



152 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



ing the mission to Algiers, a superb edition of the " Vision 
of Columbus," and now set about the execution of a long 
cherished design of expanding the poem into a larger 
and more complete work, to be called the " Columbiad." 
The notes and the first draft of the epic were written 
during this period. 

Volney's most famous work, " The Ruins," had been 
published in Paris in 1791, and had rapidly passed 
through several editions. It had been translated into 
English soon after its appearance ; but this translation 
was very unsatisfactory to its author, who asserted that 
the translator must have been overawed by the Gov- 
ernment or clergy from rendering his ideas faithfully. 
Volney at that time was travelling in the United States, 
and an English friend, residing in Philadelphia, hearing 
the remark, undertook a revision of the work. In his 
efforts to give the author's ideas literally, however, he 
made a very inelegant translation, which proved still 
more unsatisfactory. Volney had now returned to Paris. 
He and Barlow were on the most intimate terms, and 
the latter, at the author's suggestion, and under his su- 
pervision, undertook a new translation, which succeeded 
admirably, and remains to-day the best rendering of the 
French classic ever accomplished.* 

* Compare the invocation in the three principal translations: 
Paris Translation (Barlow's). 

" Hail, solitary ruins, holy sepulchres, and silent walls ! You I invoke ; 
to you I address my prayer. While your aspect averts, with secret terror, 
the vulgar regard, it excites in my heart the charm of delicious sentiments, 
sublime contemplations. What useful lessons, what affecting and pro- 
found reflections you suggest to him who knows how to consult you ! 
When the whole earth, in chains and silence, bowed the neck before its 
tyrants, you had already proclaimed the truths which they abhor, and con- 
founding the dust of the king with that of the meanest slave, had an- 
nounced to man the sacred dogma of Equality ! Within your pale, in soli- 
tary adoration of Liberty, I saw her genius arise from the mansions of the 
dead ; not such as she is painted by the impassioned multitude, armed with 
fire and sword, but under the august aspect of Justice, poising in her hand 
the sacred balance, wherein are weighed the actions of men at the gates of 
eternity." 



JOEL BARLOW. jt^ 

Another literary work that occupied his thoughts was 
a history of his native country. Jefferson, as Barlow 
informs us in one of his letters, first broached the idea, 
when he was Minister at Paris. He now wrote again, 
returning to the attack : " We are rich ourselves in ma- 

LoNDON Translation. 

" Solitary ruins, sacred tombs, ye smouldering and silent walls, all hail ! 
To you I address my invocation. While the vulgar shrink from your as- 
pect with secret terror, my heart finds in the contemplation a thousand 
delicious sentiments, a thousand admirable recollections. Pregnant, I may 
truly call you,'with useful lessons, with pathetic and irresistible advice to 
the man who knows how to consult you. Awhile ago the whole world 
bowed the neck in silence before the tyrants that oppressed it ; and yet 
in that hopeless moment you already proclaimed the truths that tyrants 
hold in abhorrence. Mixing the dust of the proudest kings with that of 
the meanest slaves, you call upon us to contemplate this example of 
equality. From your caverns, whither the musing and anxious love of 
Liberty led me, I saw escape its venerable shade, and with unexpected 
felicity direct its flight and marshal my steps the way to renovated 
France." 

Philadelphia Translation. 

" Hail, ye solitary ruins, ye sacred tombs and silent walls ! 'Tis your 
auspicious aid that I invoke ; 'tis to you my soul, wrapt in meditation, 
pours forth its prayer ! What though the profane and vulgar mind shrinks 
with dismay from your august and awe-inspiring aspect, to me ye unfold the 
sublimest chains of contemplation and sentiment, and offer to my senses 
the luxury of a thousand delicious and enchanting thoughts ! How sump- 
tuous the feast to a being that has a taste to relish, and an understanding 
to consult you ! What rich and noble admonitions, what exquisite and pa- 
thetic lessons do you read to a heart that is susceptible of exalted feelings ! 
When oppressed humanity bent in timid silence throughout the globe be- 
neath the galling yoke of slavery, it was you that proclaimed aloud the 
birthright of those truths which tyrants tremble at while they detect, and 
which, by sinking the loftiest head of the proudest potentate, with all his 
boasted pageantry, to the level of mortality with his meanest slave, con- 
firmed and ratified by your unerring testimony the sacred and immortal 
doctrine of Equality. Musing within the precincts of your inviting scenes of 
philosophic solitude, whither the insatiate love of true-born Liberty had led 
me, I beheld her genius ascending, not in the spurious character and habit 
of a bloodthirsty Fury armed with daggers and instruments of murder, and 
followed by a frantic and intoxicated multitude, but under the placid and 
chaste aspect of Justice, holding with a pure and unsullied hand the sacred 
scales in which the actions of mortals are weighed on the brink of Eter- 
nity. 



154 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



terials, and can open all the public archives to you : but 
your residence here is essential, because a great deal of 
the knowledge of things is not on paper, but only 
within ourselves for verbal communication. John Mar- 
shall is writing the life of George Washington from his 
papers. It is intended to come out just in time to influ- 
ence the next presidential election. It is written, there- 
fore, principally with a view to electioneering purposes. 
But it will consequently be out in time to aid you with 
information, as well as to point out the perversions of 
truth necessary to be rectified. Think of this, and agree 
to it, and be assured of my high esteem and attach- 
ment." 

Jefferson saw that the history of the great struggle 
in which he had taken part was being given to posterity 
entirely by his political adversaries, and was exceedingly 
anxious that a competent writer should treat of it from 
the Republican point of view. Barlow accepted the 
trust and made extensive preparations for it, both in 
Paris and on his return to America, but his untimely 
death prevented the completion of the work. Several 
hundred pages of notes on every topic in the remot- 
est degree connected with it remain to attest his indus- 
try and the thoroughness of his preparation. Nearly a 
dozen essays on political matters — commerce, maritime 
law, religion, science — addressed to the Governments of 
England, France, the United States, and to various 
learned societies, also remain to show the activity of his 
pen during this period. A curious essay, in which he 
traces the origin and progress of idolatry back to the 
expulsion from Eden, and another in which he demon- 
strates the right of the Republicans of America to the 
title of ** Federalists," since they supported the Federal 
Constitution, and were carrying out to their legitimate 
conclusion the principles of the Revolution, both found 
among his unpublished papers, may be ascribed to this 
period. He also busied himself with replying to criti- 



JOEL BARLOW. j-- 

cisms, by the leading reviews, on his " Vision of Colum- 
bus," and other works. 

His services to his native country at this time cannot 
be overestimated : these alone entitle him to the respect 
and gratitude of his countrymen. 

The years 1 797-1 800 were peculiarly fraught with 
danger to the young Republic. The general war in 
Europe destroyed her commerce, while the monarchical 
tendencies of the Federalists made it probable that an- 
other revolution would be necessary before the people 
could secure their rights. But the most serious danger 
was the threatened collision with France. The sym- 
pathy of the mass of the American people was with 
France, their old ally, now that she was engaged in a 
heady struggle for her liberties against the combined 
sovereigns of Europe. But the Government, then in the 
hands of the Federalists, resolved on a course of strict 
neutrality. Jay's treaty, which was something more 
than this, almost provoked a popular uprising in 
America, and with the French Directory came near be- 
ing considered a casus belli. It favored England, they 
urged, as against France, and they particularly exclaimed 
against the clause giving their ancient enemy the right 
to seize French goods in American bottoms, and that, 
permitting freedom of trade between America and the 
English colonies. 

The bitter opposition of the Republican party in the 
United States to this treaty, the arbitrary and high- 
handed proceedings of the French Directory in retalia- 
tion, and the putting of the American nation on a war- 
footing by President Adams in consequence, are mat- 
ters of history so familiar as to need no recapitulation. 
It will be remembered that the matter was settled by 
the French Directory's receding from its position, but 
it is not generally known that that retrocession was 
largely due to the influence of Joel Barlow, exerted 
privately on the members of the Directory, and in pub- 



156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

lie on the French people through the medium of the 
press.* 

He also wrote to Washington (on hearing that he had 
been appointed Commander-in-chief of the army to wage 
war against France) a letter presenting urgent reasons 
why the two Governments should refrain from the arbit- 
rament of arms. It was as follows : — 

" Paris, 2d October, 1798. 

" Sir : — On hearing of your late nomination as Com- 
mander-in-chief of the American armies I rejoice at it, 
not because I believe the war which that nomination 
contemplates is yet inevitable, and that it will furnish 
an occasion for a further display of your military talents, 
but because it may enable you to exert your influence 
to greater effect in preventing that war. By becoming 
more the centre of information than you could be in 
your retirement, you will be better able to judge of the 
disposition of both countries, and to offer such counsels 
to your own Government as may tend to remove the 
obstacles that still oppose themselves to reconciliation. 
Were you now President of the United States I should 
not address you this letter, because, not knowing my 
inclination for the tranquillity of a retired life, you might 
think that I was seeking a place, or had some further 
object in view than the simple one of promoting peace 
between the two Republics. 

" But I hope, under present circumstances, you will 
believe my motive to be pure and unmixed, and that 
the object of my letter is only to call your attention to 
the true state of facts. 

" Perhaps few men who cannot pretend to be in the 
secrets of either Government are in a better situation 

* Some of these articles were found among his papers. One, designed to 
show that France was sharing equally with England in the commerce of the 
United States, was endorsed in Barlow's handwriting : " Published by 
Maselet in the PublicitS, the 25th Nivose, an 8." 



JOEL BARLOW. 

than myself to judge of the motives of both, to assign 
the true causes, and trace out the progress of their un> 
happy misunderstanding, or to appreciate their present 
dispositions, pretensions, and wishes. I am certain that 
there are none who labor more sincerely for the restora- 
tion of harmony upon terms honorable to the United 
States and advantageous to the cause of liberty. 

*'Iwill not in this place go over the history of past 
transactions ; it would be of little use. The object is 
to seize the malady in its present stage, and try to arrest 
its progress. The dispute at this moment may be 
characterized as simply and literally a misunderstanding. 
I cannot persuade myself to give it a harsher name, as it 
applies to either Government. 

It is clear that neither of them has an interest in going 
to war with the other, and I am fully convinced that 
neither has the inclination— that is, I believe the balance 
of inclination as well as interest on both sides is in favor 
of peace. But each Government, though sensible of this 
truth with respect to itself, is ignorant of it with respect 
to the other. Each believes the other determined on 
war, and ascribes all its conduct to a deep-rooted hos- 
tility. The least they can do, therefore, under this im- 
pression is to prepare for an event which they both be- 
lieve inevitable while they both wish to avoid it. 

" But by what fatality is it that a calamity so dreadful 
must be rendered inevitable because it is thought so? 
Both Governments have tongues, and both have ears. 
Why will they not speak? Why will they not listen ? 

" The causes that have hitherto prevented them are 
not difficult to assign. I could easily explain them, as I 
believe, to the satisfaction of all parties, and without 
throwing so much blame on either ^Government as each 
of them at present ascribes to the other. But I will avoid 
speaking of any past provocations on either side. The 
point that I wish to establish in your mind is that the 
French Directory is at present sincerely desirous of re- 



158 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



storing harmony between this country and the United 
States, on terms honorable and advantageous to both 
parties. I wish to convince you of this, and through you 
the American Government, because that Government, 
being desirous of the same thing, would not fail to take 
such steps as would lead immediately to the object. In 
offering you my proofs of the present disposition Oii this 
side you will permit me to observe that some of them are, 
from their nature, incapable of being detailed, and others 
improper to be trusted to the casualties of a letter. But 
I will mention a few that are ostensible, and, so far as they 
go, undeniable. First, the Directory has declared that it 
will receive and treat with any minister from America who 
shall appear to be sent with a real intention of treating 
and terminating existing dififilculties. I have no doubt 
but this was the intention when the last envoys were 
sent ; but from some unfortunate circumstances the 
Directory did not believe it. Secondly, as a preliminary, 
it has declared that in the negotiation there shall be no 
question of a loan of money, or apologies for offensive 
speeches pronounced by the executive on either side. 
Thirdly, all commissions given to privateers in the West 
Indies are recalled ; and when new commissions are 
given, the owners and commanders are to be restricted, 
under bonds, to the legal objects of capture. Fourthly, 
an embargo that was laid on the American ships within 
the Republic, in consequence of a report that a war was 
begun on the part of the United States, was taken off as 
soon as it was ascertained that such a war had not begun ; 
and a new declaration was, at the same time, sent to 
America of the wishes of France to treat. These facts will 
doubtless come to your knowledge through other chan- 
nels before you receive this letter. But there are other 
facts which, in my mind, are equally clear, though to you 
they will be destitute of corroborating circumstances, and 
must rest upon my own information and opinion. 
''First, that this Government contemplates a just in- 



JOEL BARLOW. I^q 

demnity for spoliations on American commerce, to be 
ascertained by commissioners, in a manner similar to the 
one prescribed in our treaty with England. 

" Second, that the legislation will soon be changed here 
with respect to neutrals ; and that all flags will be put 
on the footing of the law of nations. 

" Third, that a public agent would have been sent to 
Philadelphia soon after Mr. Gerry's departure were it 
not for apprehension that he would not be received. 
There was a doubt whether the American Government 
would not have already taken such measures of hostility 
as to be unwilling to listen to terms of accommodation ; 
and the Directory did not like to risk the chance of see- 
ing its offers refused. 

" Fourth, that the Directory considers these declarations 
and transactions as a sufficient overture on its part ; that 
it has retreated to an open ground which is quite unsus- 
picious ; that a refusal on the part of the American Gov- 
ernment to meet on this ground will be followed by 
immediate war ; and that it will be a war of the most 
terrible and vindictive kind. 

" This, sir, is my view of the present state of affairs. 
Should it make that impression on your mind which I 
desire for the sake of humanity that it may, you will 
judge whether it does not comport with the independence 
of the United States and the dignity of their Government 
to send another minister to form new treaties with the 
French Republic. In a war there is clearly nothing to 
h& gained \iy us, not even honor. Honor indeed may be 
saved by war, and so it may be by negotiation. But the 
calamities inseparable from a war, and under present cir- 
cumstances, would be incalculable. I do not say that the 
United States, or any portion of them, would be con- 
quered. But they would sacrifice great numbers of their 
best citizens, burden themselves with four times their 
present debt, overturn the purest system of morals, and 
lose the fairest opportunity that ever a nation had of 



l6o LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

rising to greatness and happiness on the basis of liberty. 
Were I writing to a young general whose name was still 
to be created I might deem it useless to ask him to stifle 
in its birth a war on which he had founded his hopes of 
future honors. But you, sir, having already earned and 
acquired all that can render a man great and happy, can 
surely have no object of ambition but to render your 
country so. To engage your influence in favor of a new 
attempt at negotiation before you draw your sword, I 
thought it only necessary to convince you that such an 
attempt would be well received here, and probably at- 
tended with success. I can do no more than assure you 
that this is my sincere opinion, and that my information 
is drawn from unsuspected sources. I am not accustomed 
to interpose my advice in the administration of any coun- 
try, and should not have done it now did I not believe 
it my duty as a citizen of my own, and a friend to all 
others. I see two great nations rushing on each other's 
bayonets without any cause of contention but a misunder- 
standing. I shudder at the prospect, and wish to throw 
myself between the vans, and suspend the onset till a 
word of explanation can pass. I hope my letter will 
have cast some light on the subject ; but if it shall not, 
I know you will excuse the attempt, for you know my 
zeal is honest. 

" I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, 

''Joel Barlow." 

It will be interesting to follow the adventures of this 
letter. Though written early in October, it did not come 
into Washington's hands until the last day of January ; 
the next day it was forwarded by Washington to Presi- 
dent Adams under cover of the following note : 

" I have conceived it my duty to transmit it to you 
without delay, and without a comment, except that it 
must have been written with a very good, or a very bad 
design ; which of the two you can judge better than I. 



JOEL BARLOW. l6l 

From the known abilities of that gentleman, such a letter 
could not be the result of ignorance in him ; nor from the 
implications which are to be found in it, has it been 
written without the privity of the French Directory. It is 
incumbent on me to add, that I have not been in the 
habit of corresponding with Mr. Barlow. The letter now 
forwarded is the first I ever received from him, and to 
him I have never written one. If, then, you should be of 
opinion that his letter is calculated to bring on negotia- 
tion upon open, fair, and honorable ground, and merits 
a reply, and will instruct me as to the tenor of it, I shall 
with pleasure and alacrity obey your orders ; more espe- 
cially, if there is reason to believe that it would become 
a means, however small, of restoring peace and tranquil- 
lity to the United States upon just, honorable, and digni- 
fied terms, which I am persuaded is the ardent desire of 
all the friends of this rising empire." 

Contrast Washington's calm and temperate language 
with the words of John Adams on receiving it : 

" Philadelphia, Feb. i^tk. 
" Barlow's letter had, I assure you, very little weight 
in determining me to this measure.* I shall make few 
observations upon jt. But in my opinion it is not often 
that we meet with a composition which betrays so many 
and so unequivocal symptoms of blackness of heart. 
The wretch has destroyed his own character to such a 
degree that I think it would be derogatory to yours 
to give any answer at all to his letter. Tom Paine is not 
a more worthless fellow. The infamous threat which he 
has debased himself to transmit to his country to intimi- 
date you and your country — ' that certain conduct will be 
followed by war, and that it will be a war of the most 
terrible and vindictive kind ' — ought to be answered by a 
Mohawk. If I had an Indian chief that I could converse 
with freely, I would ask him what answer he would give 

* Sending envoys to treat with the Directory. 



l62 ^^PE AND LETTERS OF 

to such a gasconade. I fancy he would answer that he 
would, if they began their cruelties, cut up every French- 
man, joint by joint, roast him by a fire, pinch off his 
flesh with hot pincers, etc. I blush to think that such 
ideas should be started in this age." 

On reflection, however, the sturdy old patriot seems 
to have become ashamed of this ebullition of feeling. 
Years after, in his series of interesting letters to the Bos- 
ton Patriot, he made this retraction : 

" I, however, considered General Washington's question 
whether Mr. Barlow's letter was written with a very good 
or a very bad design ; and as, with all my jealousy, I 
had not sagacity enough to discover the smallest room for 
suspicion of any ill design, I frankly concluded that it was 
written with a very good one." 

The above letter (to Washington) was enclosed in one 
addressed to the writer's brother-in-law, Abraham Bald- 
win, Senator from Georgia, dated Paris, 3d October, 1798, 
which contains the following reference to it : " Enclosed 
is a letter in duplicate which I have thought it my duty 
to address to George Washington. I wish you to seal 
and forward it, but first to take a copy of it ; and if you 
find that neither this nor any other statement of facts is 
likely to calm the frenzy of him and his associates, but 
that they continue running wild after a phantom to the 
ruin of their country, I should think it best to publish it 
with my name and his, that our countrymen may see, 
whenever they will condescend to open their eyes, that 
one of their chiefs at least has had a warning in proper 
time, and from an unsuspicious quarter. But the whole 
of this is submitted entirely to your judgment, and there 
are few men whose discretion I would trust in a point so 
delicate. As I do not contemplate its being published 
but in a case of extremity, when matters cannot be made 
worse, it may in that case not be amiss that you should 
appear to be the channel through which it comes. That 
circumstance might add to its weight ; and it might be 



JOEL BARLOW. 163 

proper to introduce it by publishing the first paragraph 
of this letter to you." 

The year 1800 was the year of the fourth presidential 
election. Shrewd observers saw that a crisis was ap- 
proaching; that with proper exertion the Government 
could be given into Republican hands. The course of 
the Federal leaders toward France, as we have seen, had 
been vastly unpopular, while their arrogance and con- 
tempt of all opposition had become insufferable. Barlow 
watched the contest with the keenest interest, and by an 
accident was made a potent factor in deciding it. Early 
in March, 1799, a copy of the Columbian Centinel, pub- 
lished in Boston, the leading organ of the Federalists of 
New England, fell into his hands. It contained an arti- 
cle which excited his interest at once, and which we feel 
impelled to give entire, not as a literary curiosity (as 
might be suspected), nor as an exhibition of the partisan 
rage of the period, but as necessary to our narrative. 
The article is presented verbatim et literatim, the cap- 
tions and italics being the editor's own. 

"JOEL BARLOW'S LETTER. 

** Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat. 

" APOLOGY. 

" The Editor has repelled for some time an inclination 
to give insertion to the following letter. He was unwill- 
ing to promulgate the degradation of a Man whom every 
American once revered for talents, patriotism, and erudi- 
tion — without the strongest proofs : And it was, at first, 
difficult to believe the author of the ' Vision of Colum- 
bus ' could be the vile ejector of falsehood, froth and 
filth, which would cast a midnight shade over the black- 
est character of his contemporary Thomas Paine. But 
assured of the transforming qualities of the Upas-air of 
Paris, and satisfied of the fact of the authorship, the Edi- 
tor will no longer withhold from the eyes of his numer- 



164 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



ous readers, evidence of a '■falling off' compared with 
which that oi Judas Iscariot is but a foible. — The latter 
betrayed his Master, but he repented himself of it and 
returned the money. The former has not only betrayed 
his country, but glories in his shame. 

" QUINTESSENCE OF VILLANY. 

" Copy of a Letter from an American Diplomatic Char- 
acter in France, to a Member of Congress in Philadel- 
phia. 

" I March, 1798. 

"'My Dear Friend: — It is now a long time, even 
many years, since I have indulged myself,' etc. 

" 3d Paragraph. — ' America by the man whose mon- 
strous influence formed an inexplicable contrast with the 
weakness of his political talents.' 

" Close of 4th Paragraph. — ' He was a wide-mouthed 
brawler, and had been for two years the exaggerated 
echo of all the abuse in all Burke's pamphlets, and of the 
worst papers in London.' 

" 3d. — ' Through a silence marked with resentment and 
contempt.' 

"'This accounts for the interest which the French 
seemed to take in the event of that election. Their 

wishing you to elect Q E proves that they did 

not want to quarrel with you, and that they still hoped 
that the people of America were friends to liberty. 

" 'Answer Propre (f) 

" * That in everything but wisdom I am the worst or 
best of the present race.' " 
Then follows : 

"CENTINEL COMMENTS. 

" We have now discharged our duty in giving a place in 
the Centinel to the preceding epistle. It is a useful doc- 
ument, and will serve as an appendix to the volume of 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 65 

the despatches from our Envoys. It incontestably proves 
what the Jacobins have often desired, a fixed determina- 
tion in the French Directory to dictate measures and 
men in the United States as they have done in Holland 
and Italy, and develops the causes of the French robber- 
ies of our property. It unquestionably was written in 
Talleyrand's bureau, while that arch apostate sat at the 
elbow of the, duped American and dictated every word. 
A greater quantum of folly, arrogance, egotism and false- 
hood could not be condensed within equal limits. Were 
the United States the most insignificant, conquered col- 
ony of France, and * Joel Barlow,' as great an advocate 
for * passive obedience ' and servile dependence as 
Thomas Hutchinson, he could not have uttered insinua- 
tions more humiliating, or have more strenuously advo- 
cated the right of the French to dictate not only the 
Constitutions, Laws and Treaties, but the Men who shall 
preside in the Councils of the country which gave him 
birth. — ' We must,' says this Joel, * choose first such men 
as will please France, for President and Ambassador, or 
the " five-headed monster," after devouring the European 
whales, will " shark" the American "shrimps," — Buffon 
could not have been the parent of a more belittleing idea. 
Again, Citoyen ' Joel ' swears, ' He will not Excuse the 
Executive for printing,' the despatches. O ! Adams ! 
President of the Union ! Your fate is fixed ! The indig- 
nation of J-o-e-1 B-a-r-1-o-w will hurl you from your ele- 
vated sphere, and bury all your boasted Fame in obscur- 
ity ! But what ill-starred Fiend tempted Citoyen Joel to 
tell the silly tale of the letter from Gen. Washington to 
Morris ? — Barlow, the ci-devant American, Knew it was a 
lie ; — But Barlow, the Poet, had been in the habit of fib- 
bing ; and Barlow the Frenchman must write what Tal- 
leyrand dictates." 

It only remains to prove that this letter had been 
stolen, and then so garbled and altered that an entirely 
different construction could be placed on its contents, to 



1 65 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

convict its publishers of the height of moral turpitude. 
In the same letter to Abraham Baldwin which enclosed 
that to Washington, Barlow had written : " I have been 
apprehensive that a letter of March last — very long ; 8 or 
10 sheets — by William Lee, has fallen into wrong hands, 
as well as another by the same occasion to Thomas Jef- 
ferson. Relieve my anxiety if you can on this head." 

He at once recognized in the Centinel extracts, garbled 
portions of that letter, and in answer to the comments 
they had called forth, addressed an open letter to his fel- 
low-citizens of the United States, which proved one of 
the most effective documents of the campaign. After 
calling attention to the extracts in the Centinel, and de- 
claring that there was not a paragraph " without some 
omissions, additions, or changes which vitiate or wholly 
destroy its meaning," he proceeds : " But the substan- 
tial character of the letter, so far as it respects my opin- 
ion on the system of policy pursued by our Executive 
toward France and England during the period to which 
it relates, must answer for itself. I see nothing in it 
to retract or correct. Though I always reserve to my- 
self the right of changing my opinions, as every man who 
is not omniscient must often have occasion to do, yet 
on this subject I have not changed them during the last 
year. It is my belief that it would cost you dearer, even 
now, to settle your dispute with France, than it would 
have done (had your negotiations been properly managed) 
at the time I wrote the letter. How much you have un- 
fortunately suffered from the piracies carried on under 
the French laws since that period, you can doubtless de- 
termine better than I ; and what will be the final ex- 
pense of the negotiation, those only will be able to de- 
cide who shall live to see it. Thus much for the senti- 
ments originally contained in that letter. I will now 
rectify one or two mistakes which I have observed in 
the American papers, relative to the circumstances un- 
der which it was written. First. It is supposed by some, 



JOEL BARLOW. ig^ 

who do not reflect on the chronology of dates, that I was 
knowing to the attempts which had been made here to 
extort from our commissioners a bribe to individuals, and 
a promise of a loan to the Government. They imagine 
that I wrote under this impression, and consequently ap- 
proved the measure. I believe that not the most distant 
hint of either of these base attempts was known or whis- 
pered (beyond the circle of those persons mentioned in 
the despatches) until their publication in Philadelphia — 
which happened to be on the same day that my letter 
was dated in Paris. The printed despatches arrived here 
in May, and no man in America could feel a greater in- 
dignation than I did at the piece of villany therein de- 
tailed, though I amx far from thinking that a proper use 
was made of the circumstance, either before or after it 
was communicated to the American Government. The 
despatches of General Pinckney, alluded to in my letter, 
were not those of the three commissioners, as supposed 
by the Centinel, but were dated the year before, and were 
the fruits of his former embassy. Secondly. Had that 
letter been designed for publication, I should not have 
left it open to criticism in another point more remarka- 
ble than the one above noticed. In reviewing the errors 
of the American Government I then made no men- 
tion of the French, and it has been concluded, from this 
omission, that I approved the conduct of the latter ; that 
I saw nothing wrong in that monstrous system of piracy 
and plunder exercised towards neutrals ; indeed, I am 
supposed to have relished all the horrors that have at- 
tended this tremendous revolution. God forbid that I 
should lose my senses to such a degree ! I have not 
only disapproved the innumerable acts of injustice and 
violence committed under the order of the 2d of March, 
1797, and the law of the i8th of January, 1798, but I have 
uniformly remonstrated, with as much force as an indi- 
vidual of little influence could do, against that order and 
that law, and against the general current of resentment 



l68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

which has marked the measures of this Government 
towards that of the United States, ever since the ratifi- 
cation of the British treaty. This resentment has ap- 
peared to me far greater than the occasion would justify ; 
and I have not failed to enforce this opinion whenever 
I thought it could be usefully done. But Paris is the 
place where it is proper to point out for correction the 
errors of the French Government, and Philadelphia those 
of the American. My friend was in Philadelphia. My 
letter was written with the simple hope of doing some 
immediate good, not with the design of transmitting 
history to future ages. Where then would have been the 
use of swelling it with a list of blunders, or crimes if you 
please, which no man of candor will deny, but on which 
his silence ought not to be construed into approbation ? 
You might as well say I believe in the doctrines of Ma- 
homet because I do not go out of my way to refute 
them. We are so constituted and circumscribed in our 
powers of action that most of the good or ill which we 
do in the world, is the result of circumstances, not always 
in our power to control. Whoever will give himself 
the trouble of obtaining a competent knowledge of the 
French Revolution, so as to be able to judge it with in- 
telligence, and weigh the infinite complication of diffi- 
culties and incentives to ungovernable passions that have 
lain in the way of its leaders, must indeed be shocked at 
their follies and their faults ; but he will find more occa- 
sion to ask why they have committed so few, than why 
they have committed so many. A state of political in- 
sanity is not at all inconsistent with the situation in which 
they have been placed by the irresistible force of circum- 
stances. And there are cases in which we ought to ap- 
plaud men for the mischiefs they have not done, as well 
as to seek excuses for those they have brought about. I 
am sensible that, in your view, the wrongs committed by 
the French towards the United States are less excusable 
than those towards other nations. You form this opin- 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 69 

ion not so much from national prejudice as from a con- 
sciousness of the purity of your own intentions in your 
conduct towards this Republic ; from having felt a gen- 
eral friendship to her cause, and not perceiving a suffi- 
cient ground of complaint on which her resentment can 
be founded. But you are not to learn that jealousy is 
one of the strongest and blindest of the human passions ; 
and I beheve you will be convinced that the facts hinted 
at in my letter, viewed through the mist of jealousy that 
had constantly surrounded the leaders in the Revolution, 
could not fail of producing effects similar to what we 
now deplore. No ! my fellow-citizens ; I have too high 
a sense of justice and of the rights of nations to sanction 
maritime plunder from any quarter, or even to approve 
the least restriction on trade. A perfect liberty of 
commerce is among the most indubitable rights of man, 
and it is the best policy of nations. The establishment 
of this principle alone, with proper measures to preserve 
it, would have a powerful tendency, if not an infallible 
effect, to maintain a perpetual peace between countries 
separated by the ocean. The opposers of this branch of 
liberty, who do it from reflection, are not only the ene- 
mies of America, but they are the abettors of injustice 
and the foes of humanity. They strive to perpetuate a 
system of war, of public devastations, private rapine, fraud 
and cruelty, which disturb the tranquillity of the states, 
discourage honest industry, and blacken the character 
of man. Those who oppose it through ignorance, and at 
the same time aspire to the task of administering the 
government of a free people, ought to be sent back to 
school, and there taught the rudiments of the science 
which solicits their ambition. Possessing these opinions, 
and seeing America move nearer to this principle than 
any other nation, how is it possible that I could approve 
the blind policy of European plunder, or look with in- 
difference on the tyranny of the seas? From the time 
when your first vessel was taken by the English at the 



I/O 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



beginning of the present war, I expected to see some 
of your great men in power come forward with something 
luminous on the rights of nations relative to trade. 
From the reputed wisdom of America I expected to see 
Europe at last enlightened on a subject of so much im- 
portance to the human race. In addition to the free- 
dom of your constitution, I considered you as possess- 
ing two singular advantages for the attainment of this 
great object : ist. Nature had placed a wide ocean be- 
tween you and those nations to which your commercial 
intercourse extended. And you had not, or ought not 
to have, any other political intercourse abroad but what 
relates to commerce. 2d. From the nature of your trade, 
and the constant result of your accounts current, you are 
always indebted to those nations in sums amounting to 
from fifteen to thirty millions of dollars. This state of 
your accounts was not confined to England. It extended 
(before the present war) to those other countries whose 
manufactures you were in the habit of importing; and to 
France and Holland in as high a proportion, compared 
with their manufactures imported, as to England. The 
first of these advantages, being a sufificient bulwark 
against attacks by land, secured you from the political 
squabbles of Europe, leaving you vulnerable only in 
your commerce. The second furnished you, in your 
commerce itself, with a most powerful weapon of de- 
fence. The English began to plunder you in the year 
1793, in a manner totally unprovoked, and without even 
a pretext. Here was an occasion which called for the 
talents of your leaders, and invited them to use with 
dexterity this weapon, which was the most legitimate, 
the most pacific, and the most effectual that was ever put 
into the hands of any Government. But instead of this, 
an embassy is despatched to London to resign this pre- 
cious weapon, the only infallible one you had, into the 
hands of the British king, and this for no other reason 
than for fear that a future Congress, and another Execu- 



JOEL BARLOW. I^I 

tlve might use it. Your situation, though new to you, 
was not difficult nor delicate ; it required a declaration 
of neutrality, a solemn declaration and definition of the 
rights of neutrality, and a notification of your intention 
that all property taken unjustly from you-r citizens by 
any power at war should be compensated by so much 
property of the subjects of that power found within your 
jurisdiction, whether in the public funds or in the hands 
of private debtors. There is nothing unjust or immoral 
in this mode of proceeding. The aggression would be 
on the part of the foreign power. You compensate your 
own citizen, and leave that power to compensate hers ; 
and if she does not do it the injustice is on her side, both 
as first aggressor and final delinquent. If she makes the 
compensation she will not be likely to repeat the of- 
fence, because it would be an expensive business ; if she 
refuses compensation, she will soon be brought to reason 
by the clamors of her suffering subjects. England in 
such cases would not fail to do you justice, and that on 
the only principle you can count upon with certainty 
from any foreign nation — an attention to her own in- 
terests." 

From this point he went on to notice and discuss 
nearly all the public measures then attracting atten- 
tion — the funding of the debt, the establishment of a 
navy as another department of Government, the ulterior 
effects of the Jay treaty, the rupture with France, and 
other interesting topics, and concludes with the following 
spirited question : " What are the measures that Amer- 
ica ought to take to secure her own liberty, establish a 
permanent and equal independence from every foreign 
power, command the respect and gain the confidence of all 
mankind, and induce the commercial nations to adopt a 
general plan of pacific intercourse which will perpetuate 
itself and better the condition of society ? It is possible 
that these inquiries may be the subject of another letter 
which I may address to you, my fellow-citizens, whose 



1/2 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



interests I will never cease to cherish. I am your brother 
by the close and complicated ties of blood, of early 
sympathies, common dangers, and common triumphs ; 
and your happiness is naturally and habitually nearer 
to my heart than that of any other nation, though 
my general philanthropy leads me to pity the condition 
of every injured people, and to censure, if I cannot 
restrain, those who lead them into error. Some of you 
have blamed me for the severity of my remarks on the 
conduct of your Executive. It is because you have 
made them gods that you are offended with me for 
finding them but men. I never doubted the patriotism 
of your principal leaders, that is, so far as patriotism 
consists in good intentions. But I doubt the patriotism 
of those who lead your leaders. I see immense for- 
tunes made by your funding legislators out of the public 
funds which they funded for themselves. I see the most 
perfidious measures proposed, adopted, and persisted in 
for hurling you from the exalted station which enabled 
you to give commercial law to the Governments of Eu- 
rope, and for couching you under the pelican wing of 
the worst of those Governments. I see the treaty that 
consummates this business ratified in a gust of passion, 
a moment of personal resentment at an intercepted letter 
written by an officious French Minister, which happens 
to speak of the western insurrection. And when the in- 
dignation of France, though excited by repeated prov- 
ocations, rises with symptoms of extravagant fury, and 
threatens an unjustifiable measure of revenge, I see no 
prudent or manly attempts on your part to allay the 
storm and prevent a rupture; but prevarication about 
facts is given for explanation, and gasconade at home 
keeps time with humiliation abroad. Then comes the 
flood of piracy and plunder let loose upon your prop- 
erty ; a scene of wickedness, which no man can abomi- 
nate more than myself, and no man has endeavored 
more to prevent or mitigate. But when I trace the de- 



JOEL BARLOW. jy^ 

plorable effects to their proper and indubitable causes, 
I cannot confine my animadversion to this side of the 
Atlantic. Though you may choose to deify your first 
magistrates, the original authors of these calamities ; 
though you enshrine them in the temple of infallibility, 
fence them round with sedition laws, and intoxicate 
them with addresses, birthday odes, and bacchanalian 
toasts, I see in them some of the frailties of men, and 
I will not join the chorus of adoration. With respect 
to men, I am of no party ; with respect to principle, I 
am a Republican in theory and practice, notwithstanding 
the disgrace into which that principle seems to be fall- 
ing in America. I consider it as my inalienable right, 
as well as my indispensable duty, to render a service to 
you wherever I find occasion. And when such service 
has lead me to notice what I thought wrong in the ad- 
ministration of your Government, I have always done 
it, and in such a manner as I thought would be most 
likely to lead to a correction of the abuse ; and I shall 
not relinquish this right, nor neglect this duty, whoever 
may be the men, and whatever the party, to whom you 
may choose to delegate your powers. Among my en- 
deavors to serve you as a volunteer in the cause of hu- 
manity, there is none which I have had more at heart 
than that of preventing a war between you and France, 
and of bringing about a reconciliation on terms honora- 
ble and advantageous to each. I have no doubt but that 
both Governments desire it ; but whether they do or not, 
as long as I deem it for the interest of both nations, and 
there remains any hope of success, I will not slacken my 
exertions. I do not believe in the modern doctrine of 
your cabiftet, that it is a crime in a private citizen to 
serve his country, or even to call in question the infalli- 
bility of its administration, and I know no man in Amer- 
ica who did believe it as long as he remained a private 
citizen. I am confident, and you may be in time, that 
the labors of myself and a few other men, not commis- 



174 ^^^^ ^^D LETTERS OF 

sioned for the purpose, have hitherto prevented a war. 
But how long this will continue to be the case I cannot 
pretend to say. . . . But if you really have no talent 
among you of a higher nature than what is necessary to 
copy precedents from old monarchies, I pity you, and call 
upon you to pity me ; it is time to despair of the per- 
fectibility of human society, and make up our minds to 
return to slavery, monarchy, and perpetual war." 

One has only to contrast this cool, temperate, convinc- 
ing argument with the gasconade of the Centinel to dis- 
cover one reason for the change in parties that charac- 
terized the election of 1800. The letter was followed a 
few months later by another on the remaining topics of 
interest indicated. 

Their effect on friend and foe cannot be better de- 
scribed than is done in the introduction to the first edi- 
tion of the " Letters," published in Connecticut — which, 
by the way, was not until 1806, seven years after their 
first appearance. The bitterness with which Mr. Barlow 
was assailed by those who had been in youth his warm- 
est friends is also indicated. The editor observes : 

" The following letters were written in the time of 
terror, and although they went through several editions 
in Philadelphia and in the Southern States, as well as in 
England and France, they never found their way into 
Connecticut. No printer, at that time, would venture 
to publish them here. Such was then our liberty of the 
press, and such our candor in refusing to hear a man 
whom our Tories thought proper to condemn for adher- 
ing to those solid principles of liberty on which all our 
political institutions were founded ! Mr. Barlow was vol- 
unteering in the most important services of his country 
abroad, while his former friends and companions were 
reviling him at home. He was laboring with all his influ- 
ence to prevent a war with France, or he was risking his 
life in the midst of a desolating plague at Algiers to 
rescue our citizens from slavery and death, at the same 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 75 

time that the Royalist faction, who were then in posses- 
sion of the government of this country, were employed, 
with a meanness and cowardice worthy of their cause, 
some in forging and publishing the vilest calumnies 
against him, and some in making laws to entrap him on 
his return to his native country. He was one of the 
objects of that memorable act of Congress imposing pen- 
alties on any private citizen who should dare to hold any 
conversation with any foreign prince, government, or 
ministers on our political relations with them. Happily 
for his country, his disregard of that formidable effort of 
legislative imbecility saved her from a war with France. 
The fraudulent and hostile conduct of our Government 
toward that nation had excited a spirit of vengeance, 
which to a certain degree was certainly just, but which 
was swelling beyond due bounds, and had fallen heavily 
on our commerce. It is well known that his exertions 
had a much greater effect in healing the rupture between 
the two countries than those of the six ambassadors who 
were sent in two triplicate assortments for that purpose. 
The public will recollect his famous letter to Mr. Bald- 
win, which was intercepted, mutilated, and published. 
It was full of weight and galling truths. They will also 
recollect the use which the Pickering faction made of 
that letter to throw the country into a flame. It was 
that publication, and the clamor it excited, that occa- 
sioned these two addresses to his fellow-citizens. We 
now publish them for the first time in this his native 
state, and we beg our countrymen to read them ; this is 
all we ask. They require no commendation ; they admit 
of no comment. People of Connecticut, men of all par- 
ties, ancient schoolfellows, former friends and present 
calumniators of Joel Barlow, read these letters, then call 
him Jacobin, Infidel, Democrat, whatever you please ; he 
will force on you the conviction that he is a wise and 
virtuous man. You will recognize in him the same dig- 
nified and amiable companion you once loved ; the 



iy6 I-^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

unchangeable friend of his country, the most zealous and 
able defender of her rights. If you find between him 
and you a difference of principle that did not formerly 
exist, it is yours that has changed, and not his. If in all 
the heavy volumes that load your shelves, on the " De- 
fence of the Americaft constitution," you find enough of 
solid matter to balance a dozen pages of this pamphlet, 
return the pamphlet to the bookseller, and he will return 
your money ; and if you find a legislator or a magistrate 
who shall read these addresses, and not grow wiser and 
better for the reading, trust him no longer; he is unfit 
for his place, being unable, from his prejudices, to dis- 
cern the truth." 

It is a proof of the versatility and comprehensiveness 
of the man, that while thus deeply interested in poli- 
tics and letters he was also keenly alive to the impor- 
tance of that question which was a test of the statesman- 
ship of his age — the question of internal improvements. 
In his Fourth of July Oration at Washington in 1809, he 
put into words what his prophetic eye had seen at Paris 
in 1800, that this great country could only be developed 
and made a homogeneous whole by safe, rapid, cheap 
communication between its most distant parts. He at 
once saw what a factor in effecting this the. steamboat, if 
successful,r would be, and entered, heart, soul, and purse, 
into the schemes of its inventors. Among the names of 
the pioneers of the steamboat, not the least is that of 
Joel Barlow. The proofs of our assertion are to be found 
in a large bundle of faded, time-stained letters, written at 
Paris by the poet, between the years 1 800-1 803, to Mrs. 
Barlow during her various absences in the provinces, and 
to which the reader's attention is now invited. 

In 1797, Fulton, weary of assailing the deaf ears of 
the British Ministry with his schemes for canal and sub- 
marine navigation, crossed over to France, hoping to be 
more fortunate with the Directory. It is probable that 



JOEL BARLOW. lyj 

he had letters of introduction to his distinguished coun- 
tryman, as did most Americans who visited Paris at that 
time ; it is at least certain that he found in him the 
patron which he so much needed. A warm friendship 
at once sprung up between the young inventor and Mr. \ 
Barlow: the latter invited him to take up his abode with 
him, and during the seven years that Fulton remained in 
Paris, a room in the poet's house, and a seat at his fire^ 
side were alwg-ys reserved for him. The relations be- 
tween the two men of genius during this period were 
those of father and son. Mrs. Barlow, too, regarded and 
treated her guest with maternal affection. The first y^ >f 
essay of the two was the construction of a torpedo-boat 
— "a machine by which metallic cases filled with gun- 
powder could be projected under water to a given point 
and then exploded." The first experiment with this 
contrivance, tried on the Seine, is said to have come near 
drowning both the projectors, although subsequent 
experiments produced a very effective and formidable 
machine. The summer of 1800, was spent by Mrs. Bar- 
low at Havre for the benefit of the sea air and baths, 
Fulton accompanying her, both as escort and to experi- 
ment with his torpedo-boat on the British frigates then 
blockading the port. Mr. Barlow remained in Paris. 
His letters to his wife during this summer, from their 
frequent reference to Fulton and his projects and their 
gossip of the poet's friends, pursuits, and surroundings, 
are exceedingly interesting, and worthy of publication. 
We content ourselves with extracts. '' Toot," we may 
premise, was the pet name of Fulton. 

Under date of 29th Thermidor (Aug. 17th) he writes: 
. . . . *' Tell Toot he shall have the $1000 in a day or two, 
but Thayer has not paid according to his promise. The 
pictures go not well — 50 or 60 livres a day for both, and 
at this season ! But the excessive heat prevents every- 
body from stirring out, especially on the Boulevard and 



i;8 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



in the day time.* The Clos St. Lazare is still for us, but 
I have concluded nothing." 

2()th Thermidor — at night. 

" I am glad to hear of Toot's success in experiment. 
Always repeat to him how much I love him ; you cannot 
tell him too much of it. I shall send him some money 
to-morrow." 

2d Fructidor. 

" Tell Toot to go to the house of Homburg Freres and 
there he will find $500 from Hottingner. He will have 
more in a day or two. 

" P. S. — Toot may wish to send for the book of which 
the advertisement enclosed is taken from a magazine." 

iit/i Fructidor. 

"Apropos of praise or flattery in the matrimonial 
state. It is always my opinion (I don't know how often 
I have told you of it) that it ought to be indulged and 
cultivated as far as possible. It has a doubly good 
effect when hearts are well disposed: ist. It makes 
the party praised improve the mind and actions to de- 
serve that praise ; and, 2d. It helps the praising party 
to fix in his mind a sort of standard of sentiment to 
which he resorts under every different feeling. When 
he forgets the merits of his other moiety and feels peev- 
ish he recollects himself and says: 'But I often tell her 
she possesses such and such good qualities ; surely I don't 
tell her lies. Well, then, she does possess them ; well, 
then, she merits my love,' and it's ten to one but all his 
love returns with this single reflection. 

" I have written a long letter to Professor Ebeling to 
condole with him for the loss of Professor Bosch, to talk 
with him about the armed neutrality, and to propose a 
better way to secure the rights of neutrals." 

i^ith Fructidor. 

". . . . Tell Toot that every strain and extraordinary 
exertion in middle life, and cold, and damp, and twisting, 
* Probably refers to a panorama Fulton had opened in Paris. 



JOEL BARLOW. i>j(^ 

and wrenching, and unnatural and strained position that 
our bodies are exposed to in middle life, tend to stiffen 
the nerves, joints, and muscles, and bring on old age pre- 
maturely, perhaps sickness or decrepitude ; that pains, 
gouts, rheumatisms, and death are not things of chance, 
but are all physical effects from physical causes ; that 
the machine of his body is better and more worthy his 
attention than any other machine he can make ; that 
preservation is more useful than creation ; and that un- 
less he could create me one in the image of himself he 
had better preserve his own automaton. Read this lect- 
ure to him, or a better one, on the preservation of health 
and vigor every morning at breakfast." 

This and the following letter refer to a grand trial of 
his plunging boat which Fulton was about to make. 
The references will be better understood, perhaps, if we 
give a short account of the machine and its perform- 
ances: its construction had occupied the attention of 
both the inventor and his patron from the day of the 
initial experiment on the Seine in 1797. Fulton called 
it the " diving or plunging boat," and later the Nau- 
tilus. His design in inventing it was to provide a mo- 
tor for his torpedo, and thus add another arm to naval 
warfare ; but subsequently he designed it for general 
purposes of communication. The only description of it 
extant, probably, is that given by St. Aubin, a member of 
the French tribunate, in one of the newspapers of the 
day. He says : " The diving boat will be capacious 
enough to contain eight men and provision for twenty 
days, and will be of sufficient strength and power to en- 
able him to plunge 100 feet under water if necessary. 
He has contrived a reservoir of air, which will enable 
eight men to remain under water eight hours. When 
the boat is above water it has two sails, and looks just 
like a common boat : when she is to dive, the mast and 
sails are struck. In making his experiments, Mr Fulton 
not only remained a whole hour under water with three 



l80 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of his companions, but had the boat parallel to the hori- 
zon at any given distance. He proved that the compass 
points as correctly under water as on the surface, and 
that while under water the boat made way at the rate of 
half a league an hour by means contrived for that pur- 
pose. ... It has the advantage of sailing like the com- 
mon boat, and also of diving when it is pursued. With 
these qualities it is fit for carrying secret orders, to suc- 
cor a blockaded fort, and to examine the force and posi- 
tion of an enemy in their harbors. But who can see all 
the consequences of this discovery, or the improvements 
of which it is susceptible ? Mr. Fulton has already added 
to his boat a machine by means of which he blew up a 
large boat in the port of Brest, and if by future experi- 
ments the same effect could be produced in frigates 
and ships of the line, what will become of maritime 
wars, and where will sailors be found to man ships of 
war, when it is a physical certainty that they may at every 
moment be blown into the air by means of diving boats, 
against which no human foresight can guard them." 
Fulton made some interesting experiments with this 
boat in the harbor of Brest in July, 1801. At his first ex- 
periment he attained a depth of twenty-five feet, and re- 
mained below the surface one hour. This descent was 
made in darkness ; a second was made with candles, but 
finding that these made too great inroads on his stock of 
air, he placed a round window of thick glass in the bow 
of the boat, and again descending, found that he received 
sufficient light from his window to discern the figures 
on his watch. His next effort was to prove the sailing 
qualities of his craft. " On the 26th of July he weighed 
his anchor and hoisted his sails ; his boat had one mast, 
a mainsail, and jib. There was only a light breeze, and 
therefore she did not move on the surface at more than 
the rate of two miles an hour; but it was found that she 
would tack, and steer, and sail on a wind, or before it, 
as well as any common sailing boat. He then struck her 



JOEL BARLOW. j3j 

mast and sails, to do which, and perfectly to prepare the 
boat for plunging, required about two minutes. Having 
plunged to a certain depth he placed two men at the en- 
gine which was intended to give her progressive motion, 
and one at the helm, while he, with a barometer before 
him, governed the machine which kept her balanced be- 
tween the upper and lower waters. He found that with 
the exertion of one hand only he could keep her at any 
depth he pleased. The propelling engine was then put 
in motion, and he found upon coming to the surface that 
he had, in about seven minutes, made a progress of 400 
metres, or about 500 yards. He then again plunged, 
turned her round while under water, and returned to 
near the place he began to move from." With this ex- 
planation we return to the correspondence, the next let- 
ter referring to Fulton's expedition against the British 
ships. 

I'jth Fructidor. 

. . . . " And poor Toot, I suppose, is now gone. I 
have not believed of late that there was much danger in 
the expedition, especially if they don't go over to the 
enemy's coast. I have certainly seen the day when I 
would have undertaken it without fear or apprehension 
of extraordinary risk. I can't say that I am now without 
uneasiness. I should probably have less if I was in the 
boat and without bodily pain. But there is really very 
little to fear. The weather is fine ; they are only going 
along the coast. He is master of all his movements, and 
it appears to me one of the safest of all hostile enter- 
prises." .... 

\Zth Fructidor. 

" I am glad you made such good lectures to the poor 
boy before he went away. They will be useful to him 
always, whether there is any other danger but fatigue or 
not. I feel very anxious, but it is rather from the mag- 
nitude of the object than from that of the danger. . . . 

"Volney says he is certain that Moreau will be in 



1 82 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Vienna in 40 days ; he has received great force during 
the armistice. The latter campaign will be short, and, I 
think, will end in peace and a universal detestation of 
the English, the only authors, fomenters, renewers, and 
continuers of the war. Kleber is certainly murdered : it 
is thought Menon will keep Egypt." 

\^th Fructidor. 
" Dear Fulton: — Your letter of the i6th came yester- 
day about 4 o'clock, too late to see the Minister, and this 
morning he seems to have got up wrong end foremost. 

1 went to his porter's lodge at 9 o'clock, and sent up a 
letter concise and clear, explaining the affair and telling 
him I should wait there for an answer, or for leave to 
speak to him. The porter returned and said he put the 
letter into his hands, and he read it and shrugged his 
shoulders, and when the porter asked him for the 
answer he said, 'J^e ne puis pas, je ne puis pas,' and that 
was all he could get out of him ; that he seemed to be 
very busy and vexed about other things. The porter, 
who was very civil, said it would be useless for me to 
wait ; he was sure I should get no answer to-day. How- 
ever, as to-morrow is de cadi, I will go again to-day about 

2 o'clock and send up another note, and write you 
to-morrow my success. I always doubted whether this 
Government would suffer your expedition to go into 
effect. It is possible they have reserved to themselves 
this method to prevent it, always in hopes before that 
your preparatory experiments would fail, or that your 
funds and patience would be exhausted." 

20th Fructidor. 
" Toot : — I went to the Marine again yesterday at 

3 o'clock and sent up a written request for an answer to 
my letter of the morning. The Minister referred me to 
Forestier, who, he said, had orders to attend to this affair. 
I went to Forestier's bureau : his adjoint told me that 
the business was done ; that the orders were sent that 
day by port to the prefet of the marine at Havre to de- 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 83 

liver you the commission and dispense with the caution. 
Thus if you can rely on a class of men on whom I have 
learned long ago not to rely at all, the business is done. 
.... But if there is any more difificulty, which is alto- 
gether probable, explain it to me, and I will go to For- 
fairt with pleasure to get it removed. . . . Your old idea 
that these fellows are to be considered parts of the 
machine, and that you must have as much patience with 
them as with a piece of wood or brass, is an excellent 
maxim. It bears up my courage wonderfully every 
time I think of it, and makes me a better part to the 
machine than I should otherwise be. I have told it to 
several persons, who say it is a maxim to be quoted as 
the mark of a great mind. I will take care that it shall 
not be forgotten by the writer of your life, who, I hope, 
is not born yet." 

A letter dated the 26th Fructidor ended the series. 
Husband and wife were reunited, and shortly after 
returned to their new home in Paris for the winter. 
The poet was chiefly busied this winter, we know, with 
his '* Columbiad," and with aiding Fulton in his projects. 
On the 26th of April, 1802, the white ponies and the 
little phaeton were again put in requisition, the preca- 
rious state of Mrs. Barlow's health having determined her 
husband on sending her to the famous medicinal springs 
at Plombiferes for treatment. Fulton was again her 
escort, the poet's business affairs keeping him in Paris. 
Again the gossipy letters commenced, fuller, more sat- 
isfactory as to his affairs than the preceding. In his 
first, dated May-day, 1802 (nth Florial), he gives a sum- 
mary of his movements for a week, thus : " The 6th, came 
home and ate a little dinner here about 3 o'clock, and 
about 4 Mme. Villette came in to get consolation, and 
took me home to dine again with her, where we found 
Skipwith. The 7th, dined at Leavenworth's and stayed 
till ten at night; 8th, dined with Madame Villette; 9th, 
with Helen — (Helen Marie Williams, the English poetess) 



1 84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

— where, by the by, I am invited to spend this evening ; 
lOth, dined with Swan with a good deal of company. 
To-day I have promised to go with Skipwith to Riteaux, 
where we shall get a little dinner. I called 13th ; dined 
yesterday at Leavenworth's, night before at Williams', 
where was the usual great circle of letter folks. This 
evening, invited to Madame Merinskas to celebrate the an- 
niversary of the Polish Constitution, which has long since 
ceased to exist. I suppose next Vend^miaire we shall 
be called upon to celebrate the anniversary of the French 
Republic, which has never existed at all." 

" i^th. Toot, the little rascal Cala has not yet sent off 
the boat ; he says he had to get made a barrclier, and to 
get the boat painted several times. Here is another let- 
ter from London, which I opened the same as before. 
No news yet from St. Dominique nor America except 
failures of merchants and the burning of the Jersey Col- 
lege." 

" I'jth. I met Mme. Pestallori, and she sent her love to 
her ilhistre rivale, and charged me to ask her if she had 
yet been sur le trone des Capucins. She says Plombi^res 
was famous autrefois .... but then alors there was a 
convent of fat Capuchins who used to visit the baths every 
day to whom you must give alms. Since these beggar 
gentlemen are no more there, she supposes the place is no 
more remarkable than other mountainous places, v/here 
people eat and drink, and bathe and feel glad. ... I am 
invited by Skipwith (American Consul-General) to dine 
to-morrow at his new country house on the plain back of 
Montmartre. ... I expect another sweet little tell-tale 
to-night from about Chaumont. I almost see the little 
whites now trudging along this fine morning and turning 
back their short ears to hear wife and Toot talking about 
Hub, and then they stop and laugh to hear her say, 
* Come, Lazybones, get out and walk up this hill ; see how 
steep it is : if Hub was here he would walk up every one 
of these hills. Ctigner ! desqendes donnez moi les regnes' 



JOEL BARLOW. igc 

Oh, I wish I was there. This night I suppose you will 
get to Langres and the 13th to Plombi^res, where I sup- 
pose these stupid letters will greet you. . . . 

" Toot, I spoke to Livingston about King ; he says it 
shall be done right. After four days' trial I met Thayer 
yesterday : he promises to meet me and settle the day 
after to-morrow. Here is a letter which, as it came by 
post from England, I knew pretty well I might open. 
Mr. Livingston has returned from London. Lee was to 
set out a few days after him. Doctor Darwin is dead. 
Sir John Sinclair's books have come ; they are of no great 
importance — one giving an account of his improve- 
ments on his own estate, and one little piece on Longev- 
ity, which you had before. 

" Toot, I believe little Cala has sent the model, but am 
not sure. I have run, and scolded, and arranged with 
the diligence, and given him the address, and he has 
promised time after time ; but he is a shuffler. 

" 26^/2. I have a letter from Jefferson — good and kind — 
by Dawson, a Member of Congress of Virginia, an old 
crony and classmate of Codman, educated at Cambridge ; 
is a clever, modest, sensible man ; seems a particular friend 
of Prom's and quite a pet of Jefferson. He is of the size 
of William Lee, only not so fat — not unlike him in the 
face : he wants to see Wifey that he has heard so much 
of. He is come to bring the treaty, and get the condi- 
tional ratification of Adams agreed to here, when he 
returns immediately, and then Chancellor Livingston is 
to come — minister. Poor Murray at the Hague, John 
Q. Adams at Berlin, Carolina Smith at Lisbon, recalled 
and their places suppressed. Humphreys recalled and to 
be replaced by Charles Pinckney, the Republican — of a 
different family from the General and Thomas. Poor 
Montflorence is done up ; Skipwith will be Consul here. 
All seems prosperous and happy in America ; people 
never seem more united. The new President quite the 
ton ; in danger of being spoiled by adulation." 



1 86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

" Tpth. Toot is calling for funds. Besides the 3000 
which I must pay for him to-morrow, and 3000 more at 
the end of the month, he wants 3000 more still to build 
another new boat at Brest. I see no end to it ; he is 
plunging deeper all the time, and if he don't succeed I 
don't know what will become of him. I will do all I can 
for him, but the best way I can serve him is to keep a 
sheet anchor for him at home that he might be sure to 
ride out a gale there if he can't keep the sea nor get 
into port. St. Aubin says it's a grand damage that he 
is not here now ; Roderer is so enthusiased with his 
small canals that he would certainly be employed to 
make one. French froth! 

" I sit altogether in the bedroom, so don't have to go 
into my room for shoes nor coat. . . . Min (the cat) and I 
go out and work in the garden about an hour every morn- 
ing as soon as we are out of bed, while they make room 
and bed and breakfast ; then we come in together, but 
Min outruns me in coming in. I breakfast always on 
milk and bread and two eggs — no tea, nor coiTee, nor but- 
ter, nor anything else ; boil the milk and toast the bread 
myself while I read the paper. Madame is getting bet- 
ter slowly." 

I Prairial. 

" Toot : — In the House of Lords the 13th May, 
the galleries being uncommonly full to hear the great 
discussion on the treaty of peace. Lord Stanhope rose 
and stated that he had a matter of such importance 
to communicate to the House in secret as would admit of 
no delay, and he demanded that the galleries should be 
cleared. Lord Moira begged his noble friend to withdraw 
his motion for that day, as the object to be discussed was 
of such an interesting nature to the people of England as 
he could wish they might all hear it. Lord S. replied 
that certainly no man could wish more than he that the 
people should be instructed, but if his noble friend was 
possessed of the secret that he was going to communicate 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 87 

he would surely not oppose the galleries being cleared. 
Moira could say no more. The sovereign people then 
withdrew, and their lordships were left in secret. In a 
few minutes the doors were again opened. The Morning 
Chronicle states that it is not permitted to publish what 
passes in the House when the doors are closed ; but we 
understand that his Lordship's communication was rel- 
ative to submarine navigation, which to his certain knowl- 
edge was brought to that perfection by a person in France 
as to render the destruction of ships absolutely sure, and 
that that person could at any time blow up a first-rate 
ship of war with 15 pounds of powder, and that there was 
no way of preventing it. This is all that is stated in the 
Chronicle. Grant is all in the high ropes about it, and 
thinks it was a plan concerted between Stanhope and St. 
Vincents, that the former should give the facts to the 
House as preparatory to the latter's taking some measures 
with the author of the invention. This is Harry's con- 
jecture. Mine is a little different. Stanhope disdains any 
communication with the ministers. He was possessed of 
the fact, and not wishing to impart it to the ministers 
alone, he probably made use of his right as a peer to lay 
it before the only body with which he has ofificial inter- 
course, and then as the ministers would be in possession 
of it, if they neglected to make a proper use of the infor- 
mation they might be open to a future attack." 

I Prairial. 

" I am going to dine to-day at Grant's. His wife 
and daughters are interesting women, though not hand- 
some ; free of English affectation and of American awk- 
wardness. She is a Scotch woman, and very sensible 
and well informed. She talks to me of the ' Vision of 
Columbus' as a book of her most familiar reference and 
reading and delight for many years. Now you know I 
don't want a greater proof than that of a person's good 
sense." 

" Toot : — Mme. Villette desires you would send Char- 



jgg LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

lotte's portrait by the diligence if you can. I don't send 
you any subject for a drawing for the poem * this time, nor 
perhaps any more until you write me how you like the 
project, and whether you can do them properly. I wish 
this work could be done in the family as much as possi- 
ble /^z/r /'^^««^2<^ du Pavilion^ 

3 Prairial. 
" Ah ! the old bed. I must leave it. The rightful 
owners of these walls have come out from their winter 
quarters this night for the first time. Their attack was 
impetuous, like that of the French at St. Domingo. 
But many a blood-bloated chief as well as vulgar warrior 
was left sur le champ de battaille. Still, like many other 
victorious generals, I think it prudent to retreat, and I 
establish myself this night in the blue room. When 
William comes I shall put him in Toot's bed ; broad or 
narrow he shall content himself with it. But there is no 
new sign of his coming. I found a little mouse this 
morning in the bag of Indian meal, and I murdered him. 
But this put me in mind of eating up the rest of the meal 
to save it, so I shall make Mrs. Pavis make me a po- 
lenta, as the barbarous, conceited coxcombs of the great 
nation call it, who know as little about a hasty-pudding as 
they do about a republic. As well might they call it 
mush in imitation of an obstinate, incorrigible race of men 
who might know better, since they inhabit a country 
which gave birth to the second person in the new and 
happy trinity, the much-inventing and life-endearing 
Toot. But whatever it be called, whether pudding, 
-A- polenta, or mush, she shall make me every other morning 
■ enough for two breakfasts, and I will eat it with my 
milk. It won't make me fat, but healthy." 

(^th Prairial. 
" Dear Toot :— How happy I am that you succeed 
so well with the drawings, and that you have it so much 

♦The " Columbiad," the drawing for which Fulton superintended. 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 89 

at heart to make a splendid edition of the work. Here 
is another subject, which makes six — all, in my opinion, 
very interesting, and the last not the least." 

2^th Prairial. 

*' Dear Toot : — To-day I went to the National Depot of 
Machines with Parker to show it him, and there I met 
Montgolfier and there I saw a strange thing ; it was no 
less than your very steamboat, in all its parts and princi- 
ples, in a very elegant model. It contains your wheel- 
oars precisely as you have placed them, except that it has 
four wheels on each side to guide round the endless chain 
instead of two. 

" The two upper wheels seem to be only to support the 
chain ; perhaps it is an improvement. The model of the 
steam-engine is in its place, with a wooden boiler, cylin- 
der placed horizontal, everything complete. I never saw 
a neater model. It belongs to a company at Lyons, who 
got out a patent about three months ago. Montgolfier 
says they have made their funds to the amount of two 
millions for building boats and navigating the Rhone. 
They have already spent six hundred thousand francs in 
establishing their atelier at Lyons. They have not yet 
tried the experiment en grand. I talked with M. a great 
deal about it, and told him it was Fulton's idea in every 
part except the cylinder being horizontal, which I be- 
lieved would not do. He says none of it will do, and ' if 
M. Fulton had spoken to me of that, I would have com- 
plained to him of that defect ; and if I had 30,000 francs 
in that enterprise at Lyons, I would have sold them for 
a thousand ecus.' 

"I found, however, after a long discussion, that his 
objections arose entirely from what you are well aware 
of, and have calculated exactly, using water instead of 
land for the point d'apuye. He said nothing that would 
be new to you. He says that common oars and all 
modes of moving a thing in water by pushing against 
water lose 99 hundredths of your power. You see he 



190 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

is not aware that it is a subject of accurate calculation, 
and that you may know exactly the difference between 
pushing against water and against solid bodies. I shall 
say nothing to Livingston of this model." 

" 15M. ... I dined the day before at Mr. Livingston's 
with a high flock of ambassadors, etc.; no American but 
Hub. There I met Sir Charles Blagdon, Secretary of 
the Royal Society, formerly Dr. Blagdon, who used to 
see us sometimes in Litchfield Street (London). Toot, 
there I met Count Rumford, and he and I were friends 
in a moment. He told me a great many things both 
new and good, and all the particulars about the Royal 
Institution. I complimented him liberally and hand- 
somely. He talked a great deal about the plunging 
boat of Fulton's. He and Sir Charles agreed that its 
effects could not be doubted, but that it would never 
be brought into use, because no civilized nation would 
consent to use it ; that men, governments, and nations 
would fight, and that it was better for morals and gen- 
eral happiness of all people that the fighting should be 
done on land. Here Livingston interposed with great 
dignity and energy, and observed that the greater part 
of modern wars were commercial wars, and that these 
were occasioned by navies, and that the system ought 
to be overturned ; that as to the humanity of the use 
of the plunging boat, he was so convinced of it that he 
had written to the American Government recommending 
those experiments to be made which should prove its 
efificacy, and then to adopt it as a general mode of 
defence for our harbors and coasts. Volney joined in 
enforcing with his usual strength of expression these 
ideas. Schimmelpinnick sat by and said not a word." 

"215-^. Dined yesterday with Volney, day before at 
Sumpter's, to-day with Sir Francis Burdett and his bro- 
ther, Colonel Bonville, and a whole host of English Re- 
publicans ; last evening at Lady Montcastle's." 

" 2\th. Toot, I see, without consulting Parker, that 



JOEL BARLOW. jqj 

you are mad; i6 miles an hour for a steamboat, le 
pauvre homme ! I shall do all I can with Livingston 
when I come back. I don't intend to see a single 
acquaintance in London but Erving and Gore, nor let 
anybody in Paris know where I am going except Sk., 
Melville and Parker." 

" 2ph. There is a letter for Wifey from Clara Baldwin, 
the eldest of Wifey's two little sisters, the handsomest 
girl in New Haven. Here are three New Havenites, 
fresh, left the ist May : Benedict Brown, Captain Greene, 
and a Mr. French. They dined yesterday at L.'s. 

" 26th. Toot, the drawings appear to me very perfect. 
I shall not have time to show them to Denon till my 
return. Mme. Villette popped in on me yesterday as I 
was putting Charlotte into a cadre which I had brought 
home for the purpose. She was highly pleased and 
grieved at the sight of it. I send it her this morning 
with a few verses pasted on the back, as I like to have 
your work and mine go together."* 

Dover, 20th June. 

" I started at 4 o'clock in the courier, as I told you I 
should. I came with that courier only to Amiens, 31 
leagues ; then the best I could do was to take the Calais 
courier, who, to my great mortification, goes in a down- 
right cart, not a patoche, for that is a covered cart 



* Charlotte Villette, a beautiful, accomplished girl of sixteen, had died 
a few months previous, and Fulton had been employed by her mother to 
paint the above portrait. The following are the lines referred to : 

" Could youth, could innocence, could virtue save. 
Our Charlotte sure had found a later grave. 
But, hapless mother, cease : your tears but show 
The poor scant measure of our common woe. 
Ah ! cease that vulgar grief : a tribute find 
More just, more worthy her exalted mind. 
Resume the virtues that you planted there. 
Reclaim that merit none with you can share ; 
Reclaim her force of thought, her vermeil hue, 
Your friends demand her promised life in you.' ' 



192 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



but this is an open, one-horse cart, without springs, with- 
out cover, and where the greatest luxury is to be 
seated on a sack of straw, exposed to the burning heat 
by day and the chilling damps by night ; however, a 
good cloak, which I made the courier borrow for me, 
wrapped me so round in every part of my earthly sub- 
stance as enabled me to sleep very sound the greater 
part of the short night, and this morning, at 8 o'clock, I 
arrived at Calais, 69 leagues. There we found a packet, 
and I got over here by 4 o'clock this afternoon." 

On his return he wrote again from Dover, 12th Mes- 
sidor ; 

" Arrived here this forenoon, and have got to wait till 
9 this evening to embark. Toot, the business I went 
upon was good and solid, equal to the highest representa- 
tion made of it. I did your commission as well as possi- 
ble with Chapman : he will write you very fully by next 
post on all the points of your inquiry. He showed me 
the secret of his economy of powers by lessening his 
friction. It consists in the formation of the plate of his 
piston, which dilates or contracts by springs. He says 
that a 26-inch cylinder in what he calls a double engine 
gives the force of 50 horses ; he says to move a boat of 
6 feet wide, one foot deep in water, and 80 feet long, 8 
miles an hour, will not require a cylinder of more than 14 
inches. This is only a rough guess in conversation. (He 
can't know this because he don't know your application 
of the power.) He says to give a movement of 3 feet 
a second with the piston it is not necessary that the 
stroke should be more than 3 feet to make 30 double 
strokes a minute. He says a cylinder of 26 inches would 
require rather less than 2 bushels of coals an hour ; that 
one of 14 inches would burn about i bushel an hour. — I 
obstinately avoided seeing anybody in London but the 
three or four persons with whom my business lay, I 
knew if I broke loose among my democratic friends I 
could not avoid running the gauntlet of all their dinners, 



JOEL BARLOW. jg^ 

getting my name in the papers, and becoming an 
object of jealousy with the Government. The Govern- 
ment found me out as it was, and without the friendly 
and unasked interference of Mr. King I should have 
found difficulty in getting off so easy as I have done. 
After all, I found in the coach last night a gentleman 
coming to Canterbury, a great Republican, who quickly 
found me out, and said he was led to the discovery by 
having been told the day before by Home Tooke and 
Sir Francis Burdett that I was in London incog. 

Paris, i^thMess. 

"This, I believe, is the 4th of July. I find an invita- 
tion to dine with Livingston. Helen is moved onto 
the Quay Malaquai. Thomas Melville is married to 
a Mdlle. Fleury, niece to Recamier. Toot, you asked 
about Washington's and Cornwallis' hats.* I informed 
myself in London, but without seeing any painter or 
pictures, that Copley's picture of the surrender of Ad- 
miral Dewwinter to Admiral Duncan represents them 
both with their hats off in their left hands, Dewwinter 
with his right foot advanced presenting his sword to 
Duncan, and he receives it in a similar posture, — that 
is, the right foot forward and the hat in the left hand, — 
both with their bodies a little inclined in a respectful 
posture. The principal difference should be that the 
sword of the conqueror should be hanging by his side. 
The eyes of the vanquished should be a little inclined 
towards the earth, and those of the other a little more 
elevated, but not with a haughty air. I give you these 
details in this first letter lest you should be out of work. 
The letter from Calais will contain another subject, that 
of the Dragon." 

^^ lythMess. Now for London. \ . . I came to Charing 
Cross at 6 in the evening ; took a hack and drove to the 
Grand Hotel, Covent Garden, where I thought to be 

* For " The Surrender of Cornwallis," in the " Columbiad.'' 
13 



194 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



incog,, supposing that Americans did not frequent that 
place. Wrote immediately to Mr. Gore and Mr. Erving, 
the Consul, to call on me the next morning. Both came 
at dififerent hours. Went to the city with E. When I 
returned the waiter asked me if I was not acquainted 
with one Mr. Cutting, an American gentleman, whose 
brother was Consul in Paris. I said no. Says he, ' He 
lodges in this house.' To see Mr. J. B. Cutting, you 
know, would be to give your name to the bell-man to cry 
it through the town. Soon after, Mr. Erving came in 
again. I called the waiter, paid my bill, and told him to 
call a coach, that this gentleman, my friend, was going to 
take me to his own house to lodge. My little portman- 
teau was put in the coach, and we drove to a hotel in 
Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, where I had a charming, 
clean, snug lodging, elegant, airy, still, and well attended. 
E. took me to this quarter for the sake of being near his 
father, who lives in George Street, Hanover Square, six 
doors below Copley's, because he said I must dine with 
his father and him every day : he lives and lodges there 
though his bureau is in the city. The father was a Bos- 
ton refugee from our Revolution, a King's Counsellor 
in the time of Gage, now a good Republican and a sensi- 
ble old man. His son is one of the best Republicans, and 
the best informed you ever met. In passing by Copley's 
(the other side of the street bicn entendre) I saw, one day, 
his wife and daughter standing knocking at the door. 
Passing along Oxford Road another day, I sheered off 
into Litchfield Street, guided by an unaccountable attrac- 
tion — I don't know why, but I couldn't help it — till I came 
to No. 1 8.* I ran up close to the door, being near 
sighted, and got onto the very last stone, and there 
stood a good while with one hand partly over my face to 
hide half of it, and there I read, ' Snoiuelon, Cabinet Ma- 
ker,' cut on a brass plate. Above was a paper, * First 

* The Barlows' house while in London, 1792-93. 



JOEL BARLOW. igc 

floor to let, genteelly furnished' Never did I resist so 
strong an inclination to go into a house. I wanted to 
hire that lodging, if it was only to sleep one night in the 
back room." 

" \<^th. Now again for London. That story was 
broken off before in the middle. It was a gay time : the 
town full for the season ; Parliament not then dissolved, 
though midsummer ; the weather remarkably fine. But 
the ladies dress astonishingly different from what ours 
do. Why, they cover all their bosoms, and necks, and 
gorges quite up to the chin. They wear nothing but 
stays as long as one's arm. . . . The milliner shops and 
haberdashers' warehouses are full of them. I would lay 
any money that there are 10,000 pounds' worth of stays 
in Broad Street alone now for sale — long, labored, stiff, 
and armed with ribs of whale. It is a frightful thing to 
think of. They don't walk so handsomely as our ladies 
do, but they have handsomer streets, finer shops, and 
cleaner houses. London is sensibly increased and filled 
up ; the display of carriages and other signs of wealth 
is very great. I was at Helen's last night ; I believe she 
has a party almost every night — 30, or 40, or 50, chiefly 
English. There have been a good many lords and sirs 
among them, and now Mr. Fox and Lord Holland are 
expected here." 

'''• 2\st. . . . Toot, Parker and I have studied over the 
memoir of experiments and calculations pretty well, and 
yesterday I went to Livingston's to have a talk with 
him ; but, behold ! the little new-born boy was dying and 
I did not see him. In my idea the other day about Corn- 
wallis' picture I forgot to mention that he must pos- 
itively have his star on. Whether he had the order at 
that time or not is a matter of no consequence. If he 
had not, no admirer of your work will ever go to search 
the Heralds' Office to detect this little anachronism. 
Everybody knows he has the order now. It is a sort of 
disgrace you must throw upon that royal mark of dis- 



196 L^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

tinction. If you insist on having a subject from every 
book, I can give you a tolerable one from the 3d : it is 
Capac relieving his son Rocha from the burning pyre, 
having killed Zamor and routed the savages." 

" 25^/^. ... I went, the day before I left (London), to 
Harry Bromfield's and found three trunks and the box of 
books. The two big trunks, chiefly filled with books, 
papers. Hub's coats, etc., seemed not to have been opened 
or suffered any injury from thieves. The coats were well 
riddled with moths, but the new black court-coat lined 
with silk and the silk coat were not touched by them. 
But, alas ! Wifey's round hair trunk, where, I suppose, had 
been stowed and treasured up so many of her precious 
things of this world, offered a mournful lesson to those 
who put their trust in earthly trunks. Epictetus or Sen- 
eca, or Harvey, or Sancho Panza, could not have taken a 
better text : ' Seest thou that lady's trunk ? ' What a 
mine of moral reflection is to be found in that little mass 
of worms, who, after having devoured all that could 
nourish their frail and filthy bodies, have died themselves 
for want of food. Their prison is their tomb .... void 
is the spacious cave, save where lie the shreds and 
remnants of what once were garments. Lo, the lank 
skeleton of that once envied tippet ! Not a hair ; not a 
particle of soil ; no sign by which it can say, ' I once 
warmed a martin on the frozen banks of Hudson, and 
then passed to the most consummate seat of earthly splen- 
dor — curled round the neck and panted on the bosom of 
the loveliest of her sex.' Alas, poor Tippet ! a long, thin, 
brittle strip of untanned leather. Thy fur, thy warmth, 
thy pride, thy name is lost. And thy fond sister, Muff — 
Ah, me ! her fate is thine. Long indeed it behooveth the 
curious searcher in this hollow house to turn them over 
and reshape their substance ; to scan their length, their 
breadth, the form they must have had, before he can 
determine aught about them, or derive their nature or 
use of old. The Hning of the muff is left entire, for it 



JOEL BARLOW. jgy 

was made of silk. Worms eat not silk ; worms eat not 
flax or cotton. But naught of hair, naught of soft wool, 
unless 'tis lined with vegetable web, can escape this garb- 
devouring tooth. Learn hence, my brethren, to line your 
souls with a conscience soft as satin, white as cambric, 
and strong as corduroy, and then, when it comes your 
turn to be closed up in that sable trunk which shall yield 
your bodies to the worms, they can never eat your souls." 

" 2()th. Toot, I had a great talk with Livingston. He 
says he is perfectly satisfied with your experiments and 
calculations, but is always suspicious that the engine 
beating up and down will break the boat to pieces. He 
seems to be for trying the horizontal cylinder, or for re- 
turning to his mercurial engine. I see his mind is not 
settled, and he promises now to write you, which he says 
he should have done long ago but he thought you were 
to be back every fortnight. He thinks the scale you talk 
of going on is much too large, and especially that part 
which respects the money. You converted him as to 
the preference of the wheels above all other modes, but 
he says they cannot be patented in America because a 
man (I forget his name) has proposed the same thing 
there. You will soon get his letter. Parker is highly 
gratified with your experiments ; he wishes, however, 
something further to remove his doubts — about keeping 
the proportions and as to the loss of power in different 
velocities. He wishes to have another barrelier made, 
four times as strong as this or thereabouts, to see whether 
the proportional velocity would be the same when mov- 
ing by the paddles as when moving by the fixture on 
shore. I should like to see this, too. If you desire it, I 
can take this barrelier to Cala and see whether he can 
make another of the same volume four times as strong, 
and know what it will cost. These relative velocities 
can be tried in Perrier's pond on the hill." 

" Was forced to go to Helen's again last night. The 
most remarkable persons were Carnot, Livingston, and 



198 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



Lord Holland. Fox is not yet come. ... It begins to 
be the fashion there now (England) to look to America 
for examples of good government. Jefferson's character 
as a statesman, uniting honesty with talent, stands higher 
in England than that of any man now living." 

** 5^/2 Therm Toot, I have been to Denon and 

then to Gamble with the drawings. They both agree 
that for first-rate stroke engraving they must cost about 
25 louis, but for good point engraving — as Godfrey has 
done the Psyche and Cupid of Gerard, by which he has 
got a great reputation — they can be done for 12 louis. 
He praised the composition a good deal, but found some 
defects in the drawing." 

" ^th Therm. Toot, your reasoning is perfectly right 
about inventions and the spirit of the patent laws, and I 
have no doubt it may be secured in America. , . . My 
project would be that you should pass directly over to 
England, silent and steady, make Chapman construct an 
engine of 12 inches, while you are building a boat of a 
proportionate size. Make the experiments on that scale, 
all quiet and quick. If it answers, put the machinery on 
board a vessel and go directly to New York (ordering 
another engine as large as you please to follow you), 
then secure your patent and begin your operation, first 
small and then large. I think I will find you the funds 
without any noise for the first operation in England, and 
if it promises well you will get as many funds and 
friends in America as you want. I should suggest a 
small operation first, for several reasons : it can be made 
without noise. There must be imperfections in the first 
trial which you can remedy without disgrace if done 
without noise ; you can easier find funds for a small ex- 
periment, etc I have talked with P. on your ob- 
servations about great boats with merchandise." 

"II//2 Therm. Here, darling, is Jefferson's letter. I 
think it a good one, friendly and frank. I send it chiefly 
that Wifey may see what he says about the house, and 



K 



JOEL BARLOW. 1 99 

garden, and ground to sell. I am strongly tempted to 
order him to buy it for Wifey, that is, if it is sufificiently 
modest, and not too vast, and to cost too much money. 
I can't tell what extent of meaning they attach to the 
words, superb house and garden and most lovely seat. I 
should like to have the place that has the garden already 
planted and in full bearing. I should like, too, the situ- 
ation on a hill with a most extensive view of the Poto- 
mac, etc. For that climate an elevated situation would 
be preferable to a plain." 

" I'^th .... I have had a long talk with John Apple- 
ton about America, and Washington City, and George- 
town, and about the society. He came from there in 
April. I asked him about Scott's house that Jefferson 
speaks of. He happened to know it and the circum- 
stances of the property, but don't know the price. He 
says it must have cost from 3000 to 4000 guineas, built 
about 12 years ago, garden well planted and in full 
growth, situation delightful, house about 60 feet front, 
two wings, built of brick, body of the house two stories, 
wings one. He gave me a little sketch of the position. 
Appleton don't like America, for the same reasons that 
destroy Mme. Pichon, who dies with ennui. She says 
the ladies know the price of a bunch of turnips, but know 
nothing of the Paris opera. I have not seen M. Dupont 
de Nemour. He called here once with his wife, who 
has come too. I called there and saw her ; he was out. 
She speaks in high terms of commendation of America, 
and I am told he is charmed with it. I am to dine with 
the Hotingers in the country day after to-morrow, and 
I am to call for Kosciusko, who lives half way. Toot, 
Grant apprises me that Smith has found a method of 
purifying sea-water without fire : it is done in his com- 
mon fountains. G. says the Government (there, not 
here) will give him 30,000 pounds for the discovery." 

" i(^th. Here are two letters from our little friend 



200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Gibbs.* He is a young man of a great deal of merit, 
has been all over Europe, and is now going to set down 
in America ; a man of fortune and a gentleman chem- 
ist and mineralogist. I go with him to-day to Guyton 
and other dava?is to help him complete his cabinet of 
mineralogy and his chemical laboratory. He don't know 
a great deal about it yet, but he intends to, and has got 
his taste decided. He may be a useful man. Hub in- 
tends to take some merit for forming his taste and fixing 
his attention to useful and laudable pursuits." 

''23^. I have got the rich Quaker Johnson here from 
London. He is talking of buying Wifey's house, and is 
coming this morning at 9 o'clock with his wife to look at 
it and take breakfast. Toot knows him, he says. He is 
a great mechanician and chemist. Member of the Royal 
Society, and Royal Institution, and of all the societies of 
arts. He was proprietor of that famous establishment 
of polygraphic picture-copying business in Piccadilly, by 
which he says he made 30,000 pounds. Toot, I notice 
what you say of Bernadotte. I know he gave up the 
Louisiana scheme some time ago. It is not impossible 
that Bonaparte will give it up likewise. There is a pro- 
ject on foot that may end in our having the Floridas as 
far as the Mississippi, and let Louisiana return to Spain." 

'^ 2$ih. John Seyle goes off this day to America to try 
to get the consulate of Havre. Ed. Livingston and his 
wife are going right home by way of England. Sumpter 
is expecting his dismission — which he asked for loing 
ago — when he quits. Tom Paine's baggage is gone to 
Havre ; he goes after it soon. Toot, I did not leave your 
memoir with L. above 3 or 4 days. I brought it home for 
the same reason which you suggest and locked it up, and 
here it is. I talked with him yesterday again. He seems 
to be desirous of bringing the thing forward. There is 
no danger of his trying to do the thing without you : he 

* George Gibbs, American mineralogist and political writer. 



JOEL BARLOW. 201 

has no thought of it ; he sees too many difficulties in the 
way ; he has heard unfavorable reports about Cart- 
wright's engine ; he doubts whether it will do. If you 
recur to Watts, it is probably best to lay it horizontal ; 
his fears with regard to the strain on the boat from the 
up-and-down stroke are not without foundation." 

2'jth Thermidor. 

" We have got a great fete to-day for the birthday of 
Napoleon ; the bells are ringing and cannon firing ever 
since sunrise — enough to deafen one ; high mass and 
Te Deum all over France ; more powder burnt than 
would serve to conquer half Europe. And this is to 
conquer the French people ! " 

I Frjictidor. 

"Toot, whenever in your travels you find any minerals 
that are rare and valuable, and you can get them for 
nothing or for little, bring them along. I wish to collect 
as many as I can conveniently, not for my own use but 
for the advancement of science in America." "" 

3</. " Toot, you are in general right, and particularly 
in your present ideas about the transportation of mer- 
chandise by a string of boats, hooked or chained together, 
with a few inches interval, but that interval should be 
covered by ox-hide to keep the water from coming between 
them. This is the best plan, too, for passage boats. The 
engine boat should only be sufficiently long to carry the 
engine and its accessories. This appears to be the Lyons 
plan ; in that he may have infringed on your patent. . . , 
The effect of Livingston's shock from the stroke of the 
piston may doubtless be guarded against in part, and I 
make no account of his vacuum. But all the difficulties 
taken together, particularly that of the movement of the 
waves destroying the perpendicularity of the stroke, 
make me incline to think that if you take Watts' engine 
it may be best in all boat business to lay the cylinder 
horizontal. I shall lay your last letter before Parker, but 
I don't like your one great round wheel ; you will lose 



202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

force by it. In the little wheels and chains there are 
more buckets in the water at a time according to the 
weight and friction. Another thing : all paddles of this 
sort should be made in form of a triangle, with the long 
face sternward made solid, the hinder part of cork, trian- 
gular too, the other way : if not of cork, let it be of thin 
boards and water-tight, and tarred. Flat paddles would 
lose as much by the vacuum in the back-water as boats 
would with a square stern." 

" 'jth. Toot, I am going to make you long to be in Paris. 
Benjamin West and his son Ben are here, and Opie and 
his wife, and my friend Tarell and his wife, and Kemble 
of the Drury Lane Theatre. I have not seen West ; 
only knew of his coming last evening. Saw Opie at 
Helen's, and shall call on West. We can have his judg- 
ment about your drawings, etc." 

" 13//^. Went last night to Helen's to see Mr. Fox; go 
again to-night to see Mr. West." 

" 2^th. . . . Toot will find West here, though he seems 
to think he shall go the last of the present week. He 
and Ben are coming to breakfast with Hub this morning 
and to see all Toot's works, mechanical and glyphical — 
(there, now, you don't know what glyphical is. Glypho, 
in Greek, signifies to paint or draw ; hence, hieroglyphics, 
sacred painting)— and among the rest the designs for the 
poem. I now wish they were all here : he has promised 
to give me his observations on them, too, and on the 
other subjects which I shall explain to him, and to give 
me an account about himself, and the revolution which 
has been brought about in art within the last 30 years by 
his having broken the ancient shackles and modernized 
the art. He is to furnish me, too, a catalogue of his 
works. This is all to complete an interesting note in the 
poem, where Hub has said of West — 

" Spurns the cold critic rules to seize the heart, 
And boldlv bursts the former bounds of Art. 



JOEL BARLOW. 2O3 

He has a great affection for Toot, and says his wife has a 
still greater — comme de raisonJ" 

The letters to Plombieres ceased with that of the 27th 
Fructidor. With the frosts of September the white 
ponies bore their mistress back to the capital, and the 
circle at Nt). 50 Rue de Vaugirard was again complete. 
It remained unbroken for the next two years, except for 
a short absence of Mr. Barlow in England during the 
summer of 1803. Of authentic details of this period we 
have few. Hjs letters from England contain nothing of 
interest, save the fact that dt one time he acted as medi- 
ator-between Sn* Benjamin West and Mr. Fulton, the 
former having been very much offended at a certain prop- 
osition made to him hy the latter, the nature of which 
does not appear. It is apparent, however, what occu- 
pied his attention during these two years. The comple- 
tion of the " Columbiad," the preparation of the plates 
for it, his correspondence, and an active partnership in 
the enterprises of Fulton's busy brain, doubtless left him 
few leisure hours. 

Amid all this business, however, his interest in his 
native land seems never to have lessened. To return 
and spend his days in America was his pet dream during 
every year of his exile. A score of times he is on the 
point of embarking, and as often an advantageous busi- 
ness opening, or war, or the illness of his wife, or inabil- 
ity to dispose of his real estate in France, interposes to 
prevent. At length, on the 2d November, 1804, he was 
able to write from London to Senator Baldwin that he 
was in England on his way to America. In London 
they remained during the winter, Mrs. Barlow continu- 
ing in delicate health, but about the middle of May 
they embarked for New York, aad after a stormy voy- 
age of 52 days arrived in safety. 



204 ^^^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1805-1811. 

Again, after eighteen years absence, the poet was amid 
old familiar scenes. No one knew him : he had grown 
out of remembrance. But greater changes had occurred 
in his native land than in him. Vermont, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, and Ohio had been admitted into the Union. 
The centre of population had shifted far to the westward. 
Ohio, which he had left a wilderness, contained 75,000 
souls. Politically, there were greater changes. The 
Constitution had been adopted, and had stood the test of 
nearly eighteen years of trial. Washington was dead, 
his tomb to be henceforth the Mecca of all devotees of 
liberty. With him had died Federalism, the last relic of 
early English domination. The old order had changed, 
giving place to the new. A new party was in power, 
with new men, new ideas, a new policy, and under its 
impetus the nation was going gayly on to its destiny. 
Necessarily it was an era of the fiercest partisan hatred 
and bitterness. The Federalists took their defeat sorely, 
and indulged in the most vituperative abuse of their 
opponents. Nor were the Republicans models of meek- 
ness under this torrent of invective. Barlow's arrival 
~f-- seems to have created quite a ripple in the political and 
religious world. The Republicans greeted him warmly, 
as the honored citizen of two Republics, the poet and 
philosopher of repute, the patriot who had risked life 
and health in perilous service to his countrymen. 

The Federalists, on the other hand, so far as they were 
represented by their newspapers, joined in traducing him. 
It is a striking commentary on the vicious, debasing char- 
acter of partisanship, that these sheets could see nothing 



JOEL BARLOW, 205 

noble, lovely, or praiseworthy in the man who, in the 
Algerine mission alone, had performed an act of as great 
heroism and self-abnegation as any hero or martyr of 
antiquity. Many old friends addressed him, expressing 
their pleasure at his return, and inviting him to their 
homes. , Jefferson, among the rest, wrote this cordial and 
generous letter : — 

MONTICELLO, Aug. 14th, 1805. 

" I received on the 12th at this place your favor of the 
4th, and I received it with great pleasure, and offer my 
congratulations on your safe return to our country. 
You will be sensible of a great change of manners gen- 
erally, and of principles in some. The most important 
change, however, is the influence gained by the commer- 
cial towns on public opinion, and their exclusive posses- 
sion of the press. But of these things we will speak here- 
after. I do not expect to be in Washington till the end 
of September, and as you propose a visit to that place 
let me invite your extending it as far as this. The stage 
comes from Washington by Fred'bg to this place in two 
days and passes within 100 rods of my door, where we 
shall receive you with joy and be glad to retain you as 
long as your convenience will permit. 

" The mountains among which I live will offer you as 
cool a retreat as can anywhere be found, and one enjoy- 
ing as much 'health as any place in the Union. Pursuing 
the stage route you will see but a poor country till you 
reach our canton ; but if you take a horse and gig from 
Washington you will come a nearer and better route by 
Centerville, Fanquier Court House, Culpepper C. H., 
Orange C. H., and Mr. Madison's, if he be at home. 
From his house or from Orange C. H. take the road on 
the lower side of the mountain : along this route you will 
see a fine country, but not yet in a course of good cult- 
ure ; and you can return by a different one, equally good. 
Believing you will have more satisfaction in this little 
peregrination than in whiling away the month of Sep- 



206 ^^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

tember in New York, I will believe that you will adopt 
the proposition, and en attendant offer you my friendly 
salutations and assurances of respect and esteem." 

Thomas Jefferson. 
To Mr. Barlow. 

A letter written to Abraham Baldwin, soon after his 
arrival, indicates his plans, so far as he had formed them. 

" We intend," he says, " to pass the winter at Washing- 
ton, and it is possible I shall take a short trip there in a few 
days to prepare the way. As the yellow-fever is in the 
North * I shall not go there at present. Indeed, I have 
no great inclination for that journey, at least until I learn 
from some of my friends there, if any there be, that the 
people will not throw stones at me. I have seen nobody 
here as yet, not a human face, that I ever saw before. I 
sent for Pierrepont Edwards this morning, but find he 
is gone to Connecticut. I hardly know who to strike for 
next. But we shall probably get into civilization as soon 
as we wish, or sooner." 

On August 20th he wrote again : " My plan was to 
join you if I could find you, then come on here, and all go 
to the land of steady habits together. But the heats 
have been too great for me to travel, or to leave her in 
this place, and having learned that I shall meet nobody 
in Washington at this season we have concluded to lay 
wait for you in the North — that is. New Haven. We 
shall go slowly forward on the road to Albany, Ball- 
ston, Boston, Providence, Hartford, Middletown, Guil- 
ford, and then to New Haven, where we shall hope to 
meet you." 

September and a large part of October seem to have 
been occupied in the carriage drive mentioned above. At 
New Haven, where the distinguished visitor remained for 
some days, the Republican members of the Legislature, 
then in session there, tendered him a public reception, 

* Vermont, where he had lands and relatives. 



JOEL BARLOW. 207 

which he modestly declined. Subsequently, a dinner was 
given in his honor by Abraham Bishop, Collector of the 
Port, which was attended by prominent Republicans in 
and out of the state. In an address presented on this 
occasion occurs these sentiments : " You will be received 
cordially and sincerely respected by an immense majority 
of your fellow-citizens, and your political writings will be 
held in honor as often as you shall submit them to the 
H- tribunal of an enlightened public." The address also 
expressed the hope that he would make the state his per- 
manent residence. 

The poet, in his reply, reiterated the expressions of 
patriotism and interest in his fellow-citizens made in his 
" Letters," and closed with the following reference to his 
calumniators : 

'' My friends, you have doubtless seen much more than 
I have of the malicious calumnies that the Monarchists 
of Europe and their agents here have published in the 
American papers against me. While I perceive with 
pleasure that their contemptible falsehoods have made 
no impression on your minds, I flatter myself that you 
believe with me that they have been hunted up and pro- 
mulgated with no other view than to destroy my useful- 
ness in the cause of liberty. They cannot be from per- 
sonal dislike, for I do not know nor believe that I have 
a personal enemy in this, or any other country. If I 
have one, I will labor with all my might to do him good, 
and hope that he will find his happiness, as I do mine, so 
connected with that of his fellow-citizens at large that he 
will no longer wish to separate them. 

" Our country must now be considered as the deposi- 
tory and guardian of the best interests of mankind — all 
good men in Europe view it in that light. I hope we shall 
be duly sensible of the importance of this sacred deposit, 
and that our patriotism, without diminishing its energy, 
may at all times partake of the broad and peaceful char- 
acter of genuine philanthropy." 



2o8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The poet, however, did not accept the invitation of the 
legislators of Connecticut to make that state his home. 
He had probably decided on Washington as his future 
- residence, before leaving France. That city was the seat 
of Government ; h'is intimate friends were there ; there 
representative men from every part of the country were 
to be met, and there, if anywhere, the pet project of his 
maturer years must be carried out. This project was more 
honorable to him than any which his fertile brain had 
hitherto conceived : it was the founding, and building 
up under his own personal care, of a great National In- 
stitution, combining in itself the objects and functions 
of the Royal Institution of England and the National 
Institute of France, together with the instruction of 
youth as pursued by the colleges of the country ; or, in 
its author's own concise statement, " the advancement of 
knowledge by associations of scientific minds, and the 
dissemination of its rudiments by the instruction of 
youth." As early as 1800, Barlow had conceived the 
idea of such an institution. In a letter to Senator Bald- 
win, dated Paris, Sept. 15th, 1800, he says : " I have been 
writing a long letter to Jefferson on quite another sub- 
ject. ... It is about learned societies, universities, public 
instruction, and the advantages you now have for doing 
something great and good if you will take it up on proper 
principles. If you will put me at the head of the Institu- 
tion there proposed, and give it that support which you 
ought to do, you can't imagine what a garden it would 
make of the United States : I have great projects, and 
only want the time and means for carrying them into 
effect." Jefferson, and most of the leading Republicans, 
heartily seconded this plan, and almost the first public 
act of its author after arriving in America was to issue a 
prospectus, in which he forcibly and eloquently depicted 
the necessity and the advantages of such an institution. 
This prospectus provided for a School of Mines ; a School 
of Roads and Bridges, which was also to include river 



JOEL BARLOW. 209 

navigation, canals, and hydraulic architecture ; * a Con- 
servatory of Arts — the useful arts and trades ; a Museum 
of Natural History ; a Museum of Arts — the fine arts, 
painting, statuary, music ; a National Library ; a Mint ; 
a Military School ; a Prytaneum, or school of general sci- 
ence ; a School of Medicine ; a Veterinary School ; an 
Observatory ; and district colleges founded throughout 
the Union as the necessity for them should arise. 

The prospectus was circulated through the country, 
and met with so favorable a response that, in 1806, Bar- 
low drew up a bill for the incorporation of the Institution, 
which Mr. Logan, of Pennsylvania, introduced in the Sen- 
ate. It passed to a second reading, was referred to a 
committee, which never reported, and so was lost. 

The opposition of the schools and colleges already 
established, and the indifference of the great majority of 
Congressmen to anything but the material development 
of the country, were sufficient to defeat it. ^ 

Although the poet had settled on Washington as his 
future place of residence, nearly two years elapsed before 
he became a householder there, the intervening time 
being spent in travel, in visiting friends, and in attend- 
ance upon his printers in Philadelphia — for the " Colum- 
biad " had been given to a reputable firm of printers of 
that city during the first year of the poet's return. His 
movements during this period are satisfactorily explained 
by a few letters culled from the mass of his correspond- 
ence. The most interesting is one from Fulton, who had 
been left behind in England, to urge on its Government* 
the importance of his torpedo invention. In September, 
1806, he was able to write from London : " My arbitration 
is finished, and I have been allowed the i^ 10,000 which I 
had received, with 5000^^" salary, total ^15,000, though 
;^i6oo which I have received on settling accounts will 
just square all old debts and expenses in London, and 

*This department was at Fulton's suggestion. 
14 



210 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

leave me about ^^200. My situation now is, my hands 
are free to burn, sink, and destroy whom I please, and I 
shall now seriously set about giving liberty to the seas 
by publishing my system of attack. I have, or will have, 
when Mr. Parker sends my two thousand pounds, 500 
sterling a year, with a steam-engine and pictures worth 
two thousand pounds. Therefore I am not in a state to 
be pitied. I am now busy winding up everything, and 
will leave London about the 23d inst. for Falmouth, 
from whence I shall sail in the packet the first week in 
October, and be with you, I hope, in November, perhaps 
about the 14th, my birthday, so you must have a roast 
goose ready. Do not write me again after receiving this. 
The packet, being well manned and provided, will be 
more commodious and safe for an autumn passage, and I 
think there will be little or no risk ; at least, I prefer tak- 
ing all the risk there is to idling here a winter. Biit 
although there is not much risk, yet accidents may hap- 
pen, and that the produce of my studies and experience 
may not be lost to my country, I have made out a com- 
plete set of drawings and descriptions of my whole sys- 
tem of submarine attack, and another set of drawings 
with description of the steamboat. These, with my will, 
I shall put in a tin cylinder, sealed, and leave them in the 
care of General Lyman, not to be opened unless I am 
lost. Should such an event happen, I have left you the 
means to publish these works, with engravings, in a hand- 
some manner, and to which you will add your own ideas 
— ^^showing how the liberty of the seas may be gained by 
such means, and, with such liberty, the immense advan- 
tages to America and civilization : you will also show 
the necessity of perfecting and establishing the steam- 
boat and canals on the inclined plane principle. I have 
sent you three hundred complete sets of prints for the 
'Columbiad' by the Orb, directed to Mr. Tolman, New 
York, value ;^30. As the transport by land to Philadel- 
phia will not be much, I have sent them by this oppor- 



JOEL BARL OW. 211 

tunity, that they may arrive before the law for prohibit- 
ing such things is in force, and that the shipment and 
risk may not approach too near to winter. All my pic- 
tures, prints, and other things I mean to leave here, to be 
shipped in spring vessels, about April next, when the 
risk will be inconsiderable. How shall we manage this 
winter, as you must be in Philadelphia for the printing, 
and I want to be at New York to build my boat ? I am 
in excellent health, never better, and good spirits. You 
know I cannot exist without a project or projects, and I 
have two or three of the first order of sublimity. As all 
your prints are soldered up I do not see how I can leave 
the number you desire with Phillips,* but as I leave the 
plates with Mr. West the necessary number can be struck 
off when the sheets arrive. We will talk of this in 
America. Mr. West has been retouching my pictures : 
they are charming." 

March 6th, 1807, Mr. Barlow is in Washington, to 
attend the funeral of his friend and brother, Senator 
Abraham Baldwin, who had suddenly died at his post 
in the Senate. In a letter to his wife he thus describes 
the impressive event : " Were you here to witness the 
sympathy, interest, and affection manifested on the loss 
of our excellent brother it would in a great measure 
lighten your distress. Though he died the day after 
-Congress closed the session, most of the Senators and 
many of the other members stayed to attend his funeral. 
We laid him yesterday by the side of his friend General 
Jackson,f just one year after he had followed that friend 
to the same place. It was a dreadfully stormy day, and 
five miles from the Capitol, yet everybody went that 
could go, and I never witnessed such solemnity and re- 
spect. The funeral was ordered by the Senate to be at 
the public expense. The coffin .... is placed in the 
ground in a large wooden coffer: it is in a dry, gravelly 

* The London publisher. f Henry Jackson. 



212 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

/soil, where it will remain free from wet, so that if we 
S should have Washington's place I shall propose to have it 
I brought to our ground, where we can have it always 
under our eye till we are ready to take our own lodging 
by his side. . . . He had suffered no pain during his last 
illness, and his serenity, benignity, even good-humor 
remained till the last. . . . He talked, as long as he 
could talk at all, of the affairs of the public, advising 
Macon, Milledge, and all his old friends, how to conduct 
them. 'Take care,' says he, 'hold the wagon back; 
there is more danger of its running too fast than of its 
going too slow.' Macon says he has not left his equal 
behind him in the United States. I did not see him till 
morning — twenty hours after his death. Every senti- 
ment of conscious dignity and self-approbation seemed 
painted on his pale and placid face : he seemed to say, 
' Here I am ; my work is finished, and have I not done 
it well ? ' My love, I can say no more to-day. I must 
finish the story another time. I have to write his life to- 
night for the paper." 

This letter is almost the only memorial left us of the 
author of the famous instrument of 1787. May i8th he 
is back in Philadelphia, and writes to Phillips, afterwards 
the London publisher of the Columbiad : "I have re- 
ceived your favor of the 27th of January, and in return 
for your kind Expressions of friendship I am in hopes of 
aiding you to procure a work of great consequence, and 
which may be very profitable to you : it is ' Lewis' Trav- 
els by the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean,' the drawings 
and engravings for which are now beginning in this 
place." The letter then goes on to commend the author 
and his work very highly, and concludes : " Now for an- 
other subject. I send you herewith a portfolio contain- 
ing the twelve engravings made for my poem, with a few 
sheets of the letter-press, to give you an idea of what the 
work is to be. The engravings, you know, were executed 
in London. I have been thinking that it would be worth 



JOEL BARLOW. 213 

your while to make an edition in quarto of this poem in 
London. I will ask nothing for the copy of the text, and 
I will sell you the prints from the engravings at a reason- 
able rate, that is, at about the cost. I have a thousand 
copies of the 12 plates; they have cost me altogether 
about £\2QO sterling, including the pictures. You shall 
have 3, 4, 5, or 600 sets of the prints at a guinea the set. 
You will see they are elegant beyond example ; no such 
fine engravings have ever been put into a book. The 
quarto edition here, as we are doing it, will not be sold 
under 20 dollars. As the prints were engraved and 
printed in London I suppose they can be entered back 
in England without duty ; but that will be a trifle. Please 
say whether these proposals will suit you (the work will 
not be published here till winter, so I can send you the 
printed sheets from the press) ; if not, say how many 
copies of the American edition I shall send ycu to sell 
for me. I would much rather you would publish it." 

The poem for which such great preparations had been 
made appeared in the winter of 1807. It was a magnificent 
quarto volume of 450 pages, furnished with twelve splen- 
did engravings from paintings by Fulton and Smirke, and 
cut by the first engravers of London and Paris. The 
paper was the heaviest and best, the margins wide, the 
binding elegant ; it was in all respects the finest specimen 
of bookmaking ever produced by any American press.* 
Yet the Columbiad was not a great poem : its defects were 
precisely those pointed out by Mr. Buckminster at its in- 
ception twenty-five years before. Its scope was too wide, 
its subjects too many and varied to be introduced without 
a clear sacrifice of the poetic unities. Besides, most of the 
events narrated were too recent to admit of poetic or 
heroic treatment. American historians have succeeded 
much more admirably in idealizing the men of the Revo- 
lution than did our earliest poet. They came later : he 

*The publishers were Conrad & Co. ; the printers Fry & Kammerer, all 
of Philadelphia. 



214 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



wrote to men who had enacted the scenes he described. 
The Columbiad long since passed out of the category of 
books that are read ; its chief literary interest to us arises 
from the fact of its having been one of the earliest efforts 
of the American muse, and from the circumstances under 
which it was produced. In this connection the reader will 
perhaps welcome a brief description. We have before said 
that it was an expansion of his early poem, the Vision of 
Columbus, and it will be seen that the plan of that work, 
as sketched at Northampton in 1779, was substantially 
followed. The poet's design was to give a poetical re- 
view of the leading events in the discovery and settle- 
ment of America ; the birth, growth, and splendid future 
of the Republic, and a glance also at the history of the 
country before its discovery by Europeans. In form it 
was a national, patriotic epic. Columbus is the hero, and 
is discovered lying in his prison at Valladolid, uttering a 
mournful monologue on the injustice of his king and coun- 
try. To him, in this state, appears Hesper, the guardian 
genius of the Western World, and, conducting him to the 
Mount of Vision, displays before his astonished eyes, in a 
series of visions, all that had happened, and all that was 
to happen, in the new land he had discovered ; the ro- 
mantic, half legendary history of the Aztecs ; their con- 
quest by Cortez and Pizarro ; the successive steps by 
which the settlement of North America was effected ; 
the actions and the actors in the struggle of the Revo- 
lution ; the republican system in America, and the ben- 
efits which should arise from it, were first portrayed. 
Hesper then changes the scene and favors the hero with 
a universal view of all nations, and the improvement of 
society in all the arts and sciences when the principles of 
the new plutocracy should have done their perfect work in 
leavening the whole mass. 

In his last " vision " the hero beholds a general con- 
gress of the nations, assembled to provide for the settle- 
ment of all vexed questions by a Court of Arbitration, 



JOEL BARLOW. 21$ 

thus inaugurating a perpetual peace. Him the genius 
thus addresses : 

' Here, then,' said Hesper, with a brilliant smile, 
' Behold the fruits of thy long years of toil. 
To you bright borders of Atlantic day, 
Thy swelling pinions led the trackless way. 
And taught mankind such useful deeds to dare, 
To trace new seas and happy nations rear, 
Till, by fraternal hands their sails unfurled, 
Have waved at last in union o'er the world. _ 

' Then let thy steadfast soul no more complain 
Of dangers braved and griefs endured in vain. 
Of courts insidious, envy's poisoned stings. 
The loss of empire, and the frown of kings. 
While these broad views thy better thoughts compose, 
To spurn the malice of insulting foes. 
And all the joys descending ages gain 
Repay thy labors and remove thy pain.' 

There are many other eloquent and melodious passages, 
but, as before remarked, the poem contains too many- 
grave defects to be considered a classic, or to receive that 
recognition which awaits the work of true genius. We 
shall again advert to its reception by the reading world : 
meantime, while awaiting the attacks of critics, its au- 
thor had provided himself with a home. Washington, we 
have seen, had been decided on as the place, but the 
choice of a site was a more difficult matter. For a time - \ 

he seems to have thought seriously of purchasing Mount tA-fV 
Vernon, but at last he decided on an old mansion lying. ( 
between Georgetown and the Capitol, on the banks of 
lovely Rock Creek, probably the identical one described 
by Jefferson in his letter of 1800. In all the suburbs of 
Washington there cannot be found a prettier site even 
now, though the city has approached and girt two sides 
of its spacious grounds with streets and avenues. From 
the terraced plateau on which the mansion now stands * 

* Kalorama was used as a hospital during the late war, and was burned 
toward the close of the conflict. The strong brick walls, however, re- 
sisted the flames, and are included in the present mansion. 



\ 



2i6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

one looks down on the Potomac, the Capitol, and the 
wide, beautiful city encircling it. On the west, its grounds 
slope gently down to the creek, beneath a park of fine 
old forest trees. On the south and east there is a wider 
slope with fewer trees, and a driveway winds through 
its green lawns under beautiful shades, that owe their ex- 
istence to the poet's own hand. What it was in 1807 we 
prefer to let its owner tell, as he does in a letter to his 
nephew, Stephen Barlow, dated Dec. 15, 1807. A prior 
one, dated *' Belair, Nov. 6th," gives us the time of his 
taking possession. The letter proceeds : *' I have here 
a most delightful situation ; it only wants the improve- 
ments that we contemplate to make it a little paradise. 
It is a beautiful hill, about one mile from the Potomac 
and 200 feet in elevation above tidewater, with Wash- 
ington and Georgetown under my eye and Alexandria 
eight miles below, still in view, the Potomac reflecting 
back the sun in a million forms and losing himself among 
the hills that try on each side to shove him from his 
course. If you have a plan of the city I can show you 
my very spot. Look at the stream called Rock Creek, 
that divides Washington from Georgetown. I am just 
outside of the city on the Washington side of the Creek, 
just above where it takes its last bend and begins its 
straight, short course to the Potomac. My hill is that 
white, circular spot. I find the name of Belair has been 
already given to many places in Maryland and Virginia, 
so by the advice of friends we have changed it for one 
that is quite new — Calorama, from the Greek, signify- 
ing * fine view,* and this place presents one of the finest j 
views in America." From another part of the letter 
we learn that Calorama contained 30 acres of ground — 
half woodland, the other half in grass and garden, includ- 
ing orchard — and that there were roads to be cut and 
paths to wind through the pleasure-grounds, a barn to 
move, stables to fit up, two wings to be added to the 
house, and many other things done for its embellish- 



JOEL BARLOW. 217 

ment. But this modest statement does scant justice to 
the improvements which speedily transformed Kalorama 
into one of the most elegant country seats of the day. 
Barlow himself had a cultivated taste and sufficient 
wealth. Latrobe, the architect, gave his advice. Fulton, 
who had returned in 1806, lent his genius to the task of 
embellishing the house and grounds, there being in one 
of his letters of the period a drawing for a summer-house, 
which he intends, he writes, " for the grounds of our 
mansion." Yet no encouragement was given to display 
or ostentation. The natural parks were left in their 
simple beauty. Walks and drives, flower-beds, a foun- 
tain or two, a summer-house, were all that art added to the 
natural beauty of the grounds. Within, the house was 
furnished plainly, but comfortably, in accordance with 
the poet's republican simplicity of taste, a severity, how- 
ever, relieved by rare paintings, curios, and bric-a-brac, 
which had been collected in his seventeen years' wander- 
ings abroad. The library was, however, the chief feature 
of the mansion. Its collection of books is said to have 
been the largest and most valuable then existing in this 
country, and lists of works purchased, to be found in his 
note-books certainly bear out the assertion.* 
« This charming retreat became the Holland House of 
America. The President — Jefferson, and, later,, Madison 
— was often there for consultation, so that Barlow may be 
said to have largely moulded the policy of our Gov- 
ernment toward France through two administrations. 
Heads of departments, Congressmen, foreign visitors of 
note, authors, artists, inventors, men of ideas of every 
calling, frequented its parlors. Jefferson made frequent 

* A curious hint of their character is given- by an account found among 
his papers, by which it appears that President Madison bought of him, 
June 9th, 1809, " The French Encyclopede Methodique, loi vols., for 
;?448.83; Lejournant, $9; Antonini, #8; Schreveliks, #3 ; McFingal, ^2.50 ; ^ 
Song of Canaan, $1.50 ; the Die Historique, 9 vols., #27," of all which 
the poet had duplicates. 



hi 



2 1 8 ^^^-^ ^^^ LE TTERS OF 

visits, unconnected with affairs of state, on which occa- 
sions, as we learn from references in their letters, the two 
sages discussed philosophy, art, internal improvements, 
their scheme for a National Institution ; and again, spoke 
of improved varieties of seeds, agricultural implements, 
and the experiments they were making on their farms. 
Fulton, and those other famous pioneers in steam navi- 
gation, Jonathan and Thomas Law, were also frequent 
visitors. Fulton is said to have constructed his model of 
the Clermont at Kalorama, and to have first tested its 
powers on the waters of Rock Creek. The poet had, 
too, correspondents in almost every European country, 
and his house became a sort of common centre for those 
interested in the news and gossip of the Old World, while 
artists and men of letters found here that sympathy 
and appreciation which few Americans of that day were 
capable of giving. " We are full of visitors " occurs very 
often in his correspondence of this period as an excuse 
for epistolary laxness. / 

The first important matter that pressed upon him after 
being fairly domiciled was the perusal of the mass of 
letters and reviews which the publication of the Colum- 
biad had elicited ; for the poem had proved the literary 
event of the day, and quickly brought its author an ex- 
tended fame. Old friends wrote to congratulate him, 
ambitious young poets submitted their verse for criti- 
cism. The Whig newspapers noticed the work with ful- 
some praises, while the Federal magazines and journals 
fell upon it with appetites whetted by full knowledge of 
all their cause had suffered at its author's hands ; and as 
most of the scholarship and literary prestige of the na- 
tion was included in their ranks the author fared ill. He 
attributed this treatment to partisan rancor and malice, 
which was no doubt largely the case. A letter which he 
wrote to his old friend, Josiah Meigs, now President of 
Georgia University, proves how deeply he felt on the 
subject. 



JOEL BARLOW. 2IQ 

"You have seen, perhaps," he remarks, "the vulgar 
sneers and low-lived abuse that is cast upon it in the An- 
thology. You know that in all America no notice has 
been taken of it that has any pretensions to decency or 
common-sense. And I am now threatened, as they write 
me from London, with an overwhelming load of invective 
in the Edinburgh Review, the hints for which have proba- 
bly been sent from Boston." 

A small volume might be made of the literature to 
which the poem gave rise. Thomas Jefferson wrote, com- 
plimenting the author on the mechanical execution, and 
adding that he would not do it the injustice of giving it 
such a reading as his situation in Washington would ad- 
mit of — a few minutes at a time, and at intervals of many 
days — but would reserve it for that retirement after which 
he was panting, and not now very distant, when he might 
enjoy it in full concert with its kindred scenes, amid those 
rural delights which join in chorus with the poet, and give 
to his song all its magic effect. President Wheelock, 
of Dartmouth College, wrote a complimentary letter, ac- 
knowledging receipt of a copy of the work for his col- 
lege library. The National Institute of France, through 
its secretary, addressed him a letter, of which the follow- 
ing is a translation : 

National Institute, 

Class of the Fine Arts, 
Paris, Oct. 15, 1808. 
The Perpetual Secretary of the Class to Mr. Joel Barlow : 
Sir : — 
" The Institute of France has received with the highest 
interest the beautiful work you have presented it — your 
poem 'The Columbiad.' All the friends of the human 
race pray that your country may achieve the high desti- 
nies to which Providence seems to Call her. The most 
illustrious minds of France desire that the United States 
may join to the public and private virtues, of which they 
have given such fine examples, the culture of letters, 



220 J-^P^ ^^D LETTERS OP 

science, and arts, which procure glory for nations and 
happiness for men. You can, then, be well assured that 
the National Institute will always applaud with pleasure 
the success of savants, literar}'' men, or artists, your com- 
patriots. 

" The edition of your poem proves that typography has 
made great progress in the United States. It is fortunate 
that one of the first monuments of this precious art should 
be a work which honors national genius. Those who 
have had the advantage of knowing you in Paris will re- 
joice that you are the author of this work. As to me, sir, 
I am happy in being the instrument of the Institute of 
France to offer you its thanks and the expression of its 
esteem." 

Joachim le Breton, 

Perpetual Secretary, etc. 

Among the rest were two letters from his old friend, 
Noah Webster, one a somewhat remarkable one, which 
we present : 

New Haven, Oct. 13, 1808. 

"Sir: — I had intended to give to the public a short 
review of your ' Columbiad ' before this time, but two 
causes have prevented me : first, a feeble state of health 
and much occupation during the summer past, and, 
secondly, a doubt whether I can execute this purpose in a 
manner to satisfy you and my own conscience at the same 
time. Of the poem, as a poem, I can conscientiously say 
all, perhaps, which you can expect or desire, but I cannot, 
in a review, omit to pass a severe censure on the atheistical 
principles it contains. The principles of irreligion which 
you avow, of which I saw a specimen in a letter you wrote 
to Royal Flint in 1794 or 1795, form the partition-wall 
which has separated you from many of your old friends. 
No man on earth not allied to me by nature or marriage 
had so large a share in my affections as Joel Barlow until 
you renounced the religion which you once preached, and 
which I believe. But with my views of the principles 



JOEL BARLOW. 221 

you have introduced into the ' Columbiad * I apprehend 
my silence will be most agreeable to you, and most expe- 
dient for your old friend and obedient servant, 

" N. Webster." 

The great lexicographer seems to have been blinded 
somewhat by religious zeal, for neither in Barlow's pub- 
lished works nor in the hundreds of letters to his wife and 
intimate friends which the writer has consulted, is there a 
sentence which might fairly be construed as proving its 
author an atheist. In fact, to Gregoire, he confesses him- 
self a Presbyterian. The critique in the Edinburgh Re- 
view appeared in due time, but was rather commendatory 
than otherwise. Fulton writes from New York, July i, 
1810, on this topic : " Have you seen the Edinburgh re- 
view of the '■ Columbiad ' ? Their first principle is that 
polished literature is not to be expected from America 
more than from Manchester or Birmingham. The second 
position is, that the day for epic poetry is gone by ; man 
cannot now take pleasure in poetic fiction ; the mere di- 
dactic is too dry. They find much fault with compound- 
ing new words or altering the signification of old. How- 
ever, they call you a giant compared to modern British 
bards, though not equal, they think, to Milton." Only 
one of his critics the poet deigned to answer. That one 
was his old friend, the Abbe Gregoire, who at once 
wrote a pamphlet, sharply criticising the Columbiad as 
tending to cast contempt on the Catholic religion. This 
letter was widely published, and called from the poet a 
reply which, as satisfactorily defining his religious status, 
and as a fine example of his reasoning powers, we append 
in full : 

" My Dear Good Friend : — I have received your 
letter, at once complimentary and critical, on the poem I 
sent you. Our venerable friend. Archbishop Carroll, in- 
forms me that he has likewise received from you a copy 
of the same letter, and he has expressed to me in conver- 
sation, with the same frankness that you have done in 



222 I-IPE ^^D LETTERS OF 

writing, his displeasure at the engraving which has 
offended you. While I assure you that I sincerely 
mingle my regrets with yours, and with his, on this sub- 
ject, permit me, my excellent Gregoire, to accompany 
them with a few observations that I owe to the cause of 
truth and to my own blameless character. Yes, my 
friend, I appeal to yourself, to our intimate intercour^^e of 
near twenty years, when I repeat this claim of character. 
It cannot be denied me in any country ; and your letter 
itself, with all its expostulating severity, is a proof of the 
sentiment in you which justifies my appeal. The en- 
graving in question has gone forth, and unfortunately can- 
not be recalled. If I had less delicacy than I really have 
towards you and the other Catholic Christians whom you 
consider as insulted by the prostration of their emblems 
which you therein discover, I might content myself with 
stating what is the fact : that this engraving, and the 
picture from which it was taken, were made in England 
while I was in America, and that I knew nothing of its 
composition till it was sent over to me not only engraved, 
but printed and prepared for publication. My portion 
therefore in the crime, if it is a crime, is only the act of 
what our lawyers term an accomplice after the fact. But 
my affectionate regard for an offended brother will not 
suffer me to meet his complaint with so short an answer. 
I must discuss the subject, and reply to the whole charge 
as though it were all my own, premising, as I have al- 
ready done, that I am sorry there is occasion for it, and 
regret that the engraving was ever made. How much 
our religious opinions depend on the place of our birth ! 
Had you and I been born in the same place there is no 
doubt but we should have been of the same religion ; 
had that place been Constantinople we must have been 
Mussulmen. But now the Mussulmei; call us infidels ; 
we pity their weakness, and call them infidels in our 
turn. I was born in a place where Catholic Christians are 
not known but by report ; and the discipline of our sect 



JOEL BARLOW. 223 

taught us to consider them, not indeed as infidels, but as 
a species of idolaters. It was believed by us, though 
erroneously, that they worshipped images. We now find 
that they employed them only as instruments of worship, 
not as the object. But there is no wonder that, to the 
vulgar apprehension of our people, it should appear as we 
were taught to believe ; and that those nations who bow 
the knee before these emblems of Deity, and address their 
prayers to them, should be considered as really wor- 
shipping them. The idea was perhaps corroborated by 
their prayers being uttered in an unknown tongue. The 
decalogue of Moses had inspired us with an abhorrence 
for images, and for those who bow down to them and 
worship them ; and hence arose our unhappy aversion to 
the Catholics. We were told that their churches were 
full of pictures, statues, and other visible representations, 
not only of the Blessed Virgin, of all the Apostles and 
many of the saints, but of every person in the Holy 
Trinity. Our fathers had protested against that great 
section of the Christian family which calls itself the 
Mother Church, not merely on account of the sale of 
indulgences, against which Luther had led the revolt, but 
likewise on account of its making these pretended images 
of the inimageable God. The sect of Puritans, in which 
I was born and educated, and to which I still adhere for 
the same reason that you adhere to the Catholics — a con- 
viction that they are right — were the class of reformers 
who placed themselves at the greatest remove from the 
Mother Church, and retained the least respect for her 
emblems and the other ceremonials of her worship. 
They could suffer no bishops, no mitres, crosiers, cruci- 
fixes, or censers. They made no processions, carried no 
lighted candles through the streets at noonday ; neither 
did they leave them burning in their churches through 
the night, when no human eye was there to see them ; 
having entirely lost sight of this part of the institutions 
of Zoroaster, Isis, and Ceres. They would not allow their 



224 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



prayers to be written in any language, not even in Latin, 
though they did not understand it ; but they chose to 
utter their supplications extempore, like their other 
discourses ; to communicate their own ideas, to express 
their wants and offer their confessions directly to the 
invisible God : through a mediator indeed, but without 
holding him in their hand, or having him fixed in effigy 
on a cross before their eyes. They had no organs in 
their churches, no instrumental music in their worship, 
which they held to be always profane. These people 
made use of no cross, but the mystical one of mortifying 
their sins ; and if they had been called upon to join in a 
crusade to the Holy Land they must have marched with- 
out a standard. They would have fought indeed with as 
much bravery as Saint Louis or the lion Richard, but 
when they had reconquered the tomb of Christ they 
would have trampled on the cross with as fervent a zeal 
as they would upon the crescent. They were not con- 
versant with what we call the fine arts ; they spoke to 
the ear, but not to the eye ; and having no reverence for 
images or emblems, they despised those that had, though 
they were doubtless wrong in so doing. I mention 
these things, my worthy friend, not with the least idea 
of levity or evasion, but to prove to you how totally you 
have mistaken my meaning and my motive ; to show by 
what chain of circumstances, mostly foreign to our own 
merits or demerits, our habits of opinion, our cast of 
character are formed ; to show how natural it is that a 
man of my origin and education, my course of study and 
the views I must have taken of the morals of nations, 
their causes and tendencies, should attribute much of the 
active errors that afflict the human race to the use of 
emblems, and to the fatal facility with which they are 
mistaken for realities by the great mass of mankind ; how 
the best of Christians of one sect may consider the Chris- 
tian emblems of another sect as prejudices of a dangerous 
tendency, and honestly wish to see them destroyed : 



JOEL BARLOW. 225 

and all this without the least hostility to their funda- 
mental doctrines, or suspicion of giving offence. I 
never supposed that those Hollanders who, to obtain 
leave to carry on commerce in Japan, trampled on the 
cross, as a proof that they did not belong to the same 
nation with the Portuguese, who had done so much 
mischief in that island, really meant to renounce their 
religion as Christians when they trod upon its Catholic 
emblem. The act might be reprehensible, as being done 
for lucre; but it must appear extremely different in the 
eyes of different sects of Christians. To a Catholic, 
who identifies the cross with the Gospel, our only 
hope of salvation, it must appear a horrid crime ; but 
to a Protestant we may easily conceive it might ap- 
pear of little moment, and by no means as a renunciation 
of the Gospel. You have now furnished in your own per- 
son an additional example, and a most striking one, of 
identifying the symbol with the substance. In your let- 
ter to me you treat the cross and the Gospel as the same 
thing. Had I been sufficiently aware of the force of that 
habit of combination among the Catholics, especially in a 
mind of those acute perceptions and strong sensibilities 
which I know to belong to yours, I should surely have 
suppressed the engraving. You must perceive by this 
time that you have mistaken my principles and feelings 
in another point of view. You suppose I should be 
greatly offended ' to see the symbols of liberty, so dear 
to me, trampled under foot before my eyes.' Not at all, 
my friend. Leave to me and my country the great reali- 
ties of liberty and I freely give you up its emblems. 
There was no time in the American Revolution, though 
I was then young and enthusiastic, when you might not 
have cut down every liberty pole, and burnt all the red 
caps in the United States, and I would have looked on 
with tranquillity, perhaps have thanked you for your 
trouble. My habits of feeling and reasoning, already ac- 
counted for, had accustomed me to regard these trap- 
15 



226 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

pings rather as detrimental than advantageous to the 
cause they are meant to support. These images we 
never greatly multiplied in this country. I have seen 
more liberty caps at one sitting of the Jacobin Club in 
Paris than were ever seen in all America. You will say, 
perhaps, that it is the difference of national character 
which makes the distinction. This is doubtless true ; 
but what has been the cause of this difference in the 
character of our two nations? Has not the universal use 
of emblems in one, and the almost universal disuse of 
them in the other, had as great, if not a greater effect 
than all other causes in producing such difference ? I do 
not say that our national character is better than yours , 
far from it. I speak frankly. I think you undervalue the 
French character. I have a high esteem for that nation. 
They are an amiable, intelligent, generous, hospitable, 
unsuspicious people. I say nothing of their government, 
whether regal, revolutionary, or imperial. In private 
friendship they are as disinterested and unshaken, at least, 
as any people I have seen. Of this I could cite numer- 
ous examples, both within my own experience and that 
of others ; though it would establish my position in my 
own mind if I were able to mention none but you. It 
would indeed be paying too high a compliment to any 
nation on earth to cite Gregoire as a sample of its moral 
and social character. If all Catholics had been like you, 
the world at this day would all be Catholics. And I may 
say, I hope without offence, that if all Pagans had been 
like you, the world had all been Pagans; there might 
have been no need of Catholics, no pretext for the sect of 
Puritans. This is an amiable discussion between you and 
me. The suavity of your manner does honor to the 
fortitude with which you defend your principles ; though 
it is not easy to perceive against what opponent you are 
defending them. Your letter expatiates in a wide field, 
and embraces many subjects. But really, my friend, the 
greater part of it has nothing more to do with me than 



JOEL BARLOW. 227 

one of Cicero's letters to Atticus. You begin by suppos- 
ing that I have renounced Christianity myself, and that I 
attempt to overturn the system by ridicule and insult, 
neither of which is true ; for neither of which have you 
the least color of proof. No, my honest accuser, the 
proof is not in the book. Review the work with all the 
acumen of your discernment, and you must, you will, re- 
call the hasty accusation. I defy you and all the critics 
of the English language to point out a passage, if taken 
in its natural, unavoidable meaning, which militates 
against the genuine principles, practice, faith, and hope 
of the Christian system, as inculcated in the Gospels and 
explained by the Apostles, whose writings accompany the 
Gospel, in the volume of the New Testament. On the 
contrary, I believe, and you have compelled me on this 
occasion to express my belief, that the Columbiad, 
taken in all its parts of text and notes and preface, is more 
favorable to sound and rigid morals, more friendly to 
virtue, more clear and unequivocal in pointing out the 
road to national dignity and individual happiness, more 
energetic in its denunciations of tyranny and oppression 
in every shape, injustice and wickedness in all their forms, 
and consequently more consonant to what you acknowl- 
edge to be the spirit of the Gospel, than all the writings 
of all that list of Christian authors of the last three 
ages whom you have cited as the glory of Christendom, 
and strung them on the alphabet, from Addison 
down to Winkleman. Understand me right, my just 
and generous friend, I judge not my poem as a work 
of genius. I cannot judge it, nor class it, nor compare it 
in that respect, because it is my own. But I know it as a 
moral work ; I can judge and dare pronounce upon its 
tendency, its beneficial effect upon every candid mind ; 
and I am confident you will yet join me in opinion. But 
let me repeat my prayer that you will not mistake the 
spirit of this observation. It is not from vanity that I 
speak ; my book is not a work of genius ; the maxims in 



228 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

it are not my own ; they are yours, they are those of good 
men that have gone before us both ; they are drawn from 
the Gospel, from history, from the unlettered volume of 
moral nature, from the experience and inexperience of 
unhappy man in his various struggles after happiness ; 
from all his errors and all his objects in the social state. 
My only merit lies in putting them together with fidelity. 
My work is only a transcript of the tablet of my mind 
impressed with these images as they pass before it. You 
will see that I have nothing to do with the unbelievers 
who have attacked the Christian system, either before the 
French Revolution, or during, or since that monumental 
period. I am not one of them. You say I resemble 
them not in anything else ; you will now add that I re- 
semble them not in this. So far as you have discovered 
a cause of the failure of that resolution in the renuncia- 
tion of the Christian faith by those who held, in stormy, 
quick succession, the reins of your government, I thank 
you for the discovery. I was in want of more causes 
than I had yet perceived to account for the unhappy 
catastrophe of that gigantic struggle of all the virtues 
against all the vices that political society has known. 
You have discovered a cause ; but there is such a thing 
in logic as the cause of a cause. I have thought, but per- 
haps it is an error, that the reason why the minds of the 
French people took the turn they did, on the breaking 
out of the revolution, was to be found in the complicated 
ceremonials of their worship, and what you yourself would 
term the non-essentials of their religion. The reasonable 
limits of a letter will not allow me to do justice to this 
idea. To give it the proper development would require 
five times the volume that I shall give to the present com- 
munication. The innumerable varieties of pomp and cir- 
cumstance which the discipline of the church had incul- 
cated and enjoined became so incorporated with the vital 
principles of faith and practice, and these exteriors were 
overloaded with abuses to such a degree, that to discrim- 



JOEL BARLOW. 220 

inate and take them down without injuring the system 
required a nicer eye than the people can possess, a stead- 
ier hand than can comport with the hurried movement of 
a great revolution. The scaffolding of your church, per- 
mit me to say it, had so enclosed, perforated, overlooked, 
and underpropped the building, that we could not be sur- 
prised, though sorely grieved, to see the reformer lay his 
hand, like a blind Samson, to the great, substantial pil- 
lars, heave and overturn the whole encumbered edifice 
together, and bury himself in the ruins. Why did they 
make a goddess of Reason ? Why erect a statue of Lib- 
erty, a mass of dead matter for a living, energetic princi- 
ple ? Have the courage, my good friend, to answer these 
questions. You know it was for the same cause that 
the people of Moses made their golden calf. The calf 
Apis had from time immemorial been a god in Egypt. 
The people were in the habit of seeing their divine pro- 
tector in that substantial boval form, with two horns, four 
legs, and a tail ; and this habit was as interwoven in the 
texture of their mind as to become a part of the intellect- 
ual man. The privations incident to a whole moving na- 
tion subjected them to many calamities. No human 
hand could relieve them ; they felt a necessity of seeking 
aid from a supernatural agent, but no satisfaction in pray- 
ing to an invisible God. They had never thought of such 
a being ; and they could not bring themselves at once to 
the habit of forming conceptions of him with sufficient 
clearness and confidence to make him an object of adora- 
tion, to which they could address their supplications in 
the day of great affliction. Forty years of migration 
were judged necessary to suppress the habit of using 
idols in their worship, during which time their contin- 
ual marches would render it at once inconvenient for the 
people to move their heavy gods, and to conceal them in 
their baggage, while the severity of military discipline 
must expose their tents and their effects to the frequent 
inspection of their officers. Shall I apply this principle 



230 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



to the French nation in her revolution ? No, my friend, 
it is too delicate a task for a foreigner who has received 
her hospitality ; I will leave it to your own compassionate 
and philanthropic mind. You will recollect how often I 
partook of your grief during that scene of moral degrada- 
tion. No sooner did you and the other virtuous leaders 
in the revolution begin to speak of august liberty, holy, 
reason, and the divine rights of man, than the artizans 
took up the hammer, the chisel, and the plaster-of-Paris. 
They must reduce these gods to form before they could 
present them to the people with any chance of their be- 
ing understood ; they must create before they could 
adore. Trace this principle through five years of your 
history, and you will find why the Catholic religion was 
overturned, morality laid asleep, and the object of the 
revolution irretrievably lost, at least for our day. My 
dear Gregoire, I am glad you have written me this let- 
ter, though at first it gave me pain. I was sorry to find 
myself so entirely misconceived by a friend so highly 
valued ; but I see your attack is easily repelled, a thing 
which I know will give you pleasure, and it furnishes 
me an occasion at the same time to render a piece of 
justice to myself in relation to my fellow-citizens. 
You must know I have enemies in this country — not 
personal ones ; I never had a personal enemy, to my 
knowledge, in any country. But they are political ene- 
mies, the enemies of republican liberty, and a few of. 
their followers who never read my writings ; that is, my 
writings that I wrote, but only those that I did not 
write ; such as were forged and published for me in my 
absence, many of which I never have seen, and some of 
which I did not hear of till ten years after they had been 
printed in the American Gazette. It has even been said 
and published by these Christian editors (I never heard 
of it till lately) that I went to the bar of your Convention, 
when it was the fashion so to do, and made a solemn 
recantation of my Christian faith, declaring myself an 



JOEL BARLOW. 23 1 

atheist or deist, or some other anti-Christian apostate ; 
I know not what, for I never yet have seen the piece. 
Now, as an active member of that Convention, a steady 
attendant at their sittings, and my most intimate friend, 
you know that such a thing could not be done without 
your knowledge ; you know therefore that it was not 
done ; you know I never went but once to the bar of that 
Convention, which was on the occasion to which you al- 
lude in the letter now before me, to present an address 
from the Constitutional Society in London, of which I 
was a member. You know I always sympathized in your 
grief and partook of all your resentment while such hor- 
rors and blasphemies were passing, of which these typo- 
graphical cannibals of reputation have made me a par- 
ticipant. These calumnies, you see, could not be re- 
futed by me while I did not know of their existence. 
But there is another reason which you will not conceive 
of till I inform you. The editors of newspapers, you 
know, ought to be considered as exercising a sacred func- 
tion ; they are the high-priests of public opinion, which is 
the high court of character, the guardian of public mor- 
als. Now I am ashamed to inform you that there are 
editors in this country who will publish the grossest cal- 
umny against a citizen, and refuse to publish its refuta- 
tion. This is immorality unknown in France since the 
death of Marat. A private letter of mine, written from 
Paris, was mutilated in this country, made to say things 
that I never wrote nor thought, and published in all our 
anti-republican papers. I saw it a year after the date and 
immediately wrote an explanatory letter, which re-estab- 
lished my first intention. This last I then published in 
Paris, London, and Philadelphia. Not one editor who 
printed the original mutilated letter has, to this day, 
printed my answer ; though it was published in all those 
places ten years ago. And perhaps not one person in 
twenty who read the first has ever seen the second, or yet 
knows of its existence, except those editors who refused 



232 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



to publish it. You must not suppose from this statement 
of facts that I am angry with these people. On the 
contrary, I pity and forgive them. And there is no great 
merit in this, for they are not my enemies. They only 
do the work they are set about by their patrons and sup- 
porters, the monarchists of America. Their object is 
not to injure me, but to destroy the effect of my repub- 
lican writings. They now publish your letter with great 
avidity because they think it will tend to decry my poem. 
It may have this effect in a small degree ; but I still 
thank them for multiplying your publication. There is 
no work of yours that I do not wish to see universally 
read in America ; and I hope soon to find in our lan- 
guage and in the hands of all our readers your last very 
curious and interesting treatise De la Litt&ature des N^- 
gres. It is a work of indefatigable research, and brings 
to* light many facts unknown in this country, where the 
cause of humanity is most interested in propagating that 
species of knowledge. I hope the manuscript copy of Mr. 
Warden's translation is not lost ; or if it is, that he will be 
able to furnish our booksellers with another. If I had re- 
nounced Christianity, as your letter seems to suppose, 
that letter and my reflections on your life and conversa- 
tion would certainly bring me back, for you judge me right 
when you say I am not ashamed to own myself possibly 
in the wrong, or, in other words, to confess myself a man. 
The Gospel has surely done great good in the world, and 
if, as you imagine, I am indebted in any measure to that 
for the many excellent qualities of my wife, I owe it 
much indeed. I must now terminate my letter, or I 
shall be obliged to turn from you to the public with an 
apology for making it so long ; since I must offer it to 
the public in my country, and trust to your sense of jus- 
tice to do the same in yours, and in your language, in or- 
der to give it a chance of meeting your letter in the hands 
of all its readers. If, thus united, they serve no other 
purpose, they will at least be a short-lived monument of 



JOEL BARLOW. 233 

our friendship, and furnish one example of the calmness 
and candor with which a dispute may be conducted, even 
on the subject of religion." '^ 

Your affectionate friend, 

Joel Barlow. 

Kalorama, \ith Septe7nber, 1809. 

Aside from the annoyance caused by attacks on his 
poems, the days spent at Kalorama must have been of 
unalloyed pleasure and interest. 

There was the farm, to which he had looked forward 
in Paris, his wife, his books, troops of friends, with whom 
he could discuss scientific and philosophical questions, 
and, for his leisure moments, the preparation of a noble 
and useful work — a history of the United States, Here, 
too, he witnessed the success of the steamboat, the tri- 
umph of the project which for seven years he had so 
tenderly nursed in Paris. '^^i*^ A**' 

We can imagine with what pleasure he read, in the 
spring of 1807, this letter from Fulton: 

" My steamboat voyage to Albany has turned out 
rather more favorably than I had calculated. The dis- 
tance from New York to Albany is one hundred and 
fifty miles. I ran it up in thirty-two hours, and down in 
thirty. I had a light breeze against me the whole way, 
both going and coming, and the voyage has been per- 
formed wholly by the power of steam. I overtook many 
sloops and schooners beating to windward and parted 
with them as if they had been at anchor. The power 
of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved. The 
morning I left New York there were not, perhaps, thirty 
persons in the city who believed that the boat would 
ever move one mile an hour, or be of the least utility, 
and while we were putting off from the wharf, which was 

*This letter was followed by a second from Abbe Gregoire, in which he 
indignantly denied the calumny that his friend had appeared before the bar 
of the Convention and ma^e a public recantation of the Christian religion. 



234 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



crowded with spectators, I heard a number of sarcastic 
remarks. This is the way in which ignorant men com- 
pliment what they call philosophy and its projectors. 

'' Having employed much time, money, and zeal in ac- 
complishing this work, it gives me, as it will you, great 
pleasure to see it fully answer my expectations. It will 
give a cheap and quick conveyance to the merchants on 
the Mississippi, the Missouri, and other great rivers which 
are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of 
our country ; and although the prospect of personal 
emolument has been some inducement to me, yet I feel 
infinitely more pleasure in reflecting on the numerous 
advantages that my country will derive from the inven- 
tion." 

This period was not devoid of literary and civic honors. 
He was elected a member of the United States Military 
Philosophical Society in 1807, and of the American Phi- 
losophical Society in 1809. The same year the Univer- 
sity of Georgia conferred on him the degree of LL.D. 
j He was also made a director of the Bank of Washing- 
ton, and was frequently called upon to preside at public 
meetings.. He delivered an oration on the Fourth of 
July, 1809, at Washington, which was an able effort and 
was afterwards printed in pamphlet form. He seems to 
have made no effort during this period to secure public 
office for himself, and only on two occasions for his 
friends : he secured the office of postmaster at Nauga- 
tuck, Ct., for his nephew, Stephen Barlow, and that at 
Lancaster, Pa., for the mathematician and astronomer 
Andrew Ellicott. His appeal in behalf of the latter to 
Gideon Granger, Postmaster-General, it is safe to say, 
no other public man of his day was capable of writing : 
it championed a class rarely recognized by Government, 
and it administered a stinging rebuke to what was then, 
and is now, the besetting sin of our country. The letter 
speaks for itself : 



JOEL BARLOW. 235 

Kalorama, May 3, 1809. 

" Dear Sir : — Henry Baldwin .... informs me that 
the postmaster at Lancaster is dead or dying, and wishes 
to have the place given to his father Ellicott. He says 
he has written to you on the subject, and has probably 
stated to you the pretensions of the applicant. But as 
I happen to be acquainted with Mr. Ellicott (though prob- 
ably not better than you are) he thought my note might 
have some effect. I have certainly a great esteem for Mr 
Ellicott as a mathematician and astronomer, and would 
suggest that in all our country there is evidently too 
little attention paid to men of science, as well as to men 
of literature. It is really discouraging to all liberal pur- 
suits, and proves that the Government is accessory to the 
great national sin of our country, which I fear will over- 
turn its liberties : I mean the inordinate and universal 
pursuit of wealth as a means of distinction. For example, 
if I find that writing the Columbiad, with all the moral 
qualities, literature, and science which that work supposes, 
will not place me on a footing with John Taylor, who is 
rich, why, then, I'll be rich too ; I'll despise my literary 
labors, which tend to build up our system of free govern- 
ment, and I'll boast of my bank shares, which tend to 
pull it down, because these, and not those, procure me 
the distinction which we all desire. I will teach my 
nephews by precept, and all the rising generation by 
example, that merit consists in oppressing mankind 
and not in serving them. Excuse, my dear sir, this dull 
sermon and make Andrew Ellicott postmaster of Lan- 
caster." 

One other letter written by him during this period we 
introduce for its intrinsic interest. In July, 1809, James 
Cheetham, editor of the American Citizen, a scurrilous 
political sheet of New York, addressed to Mr. Barlow the 
following letter : 

" Sir : — Not having the honor of a personal acquaint- 
ance with you the trouble this note will occasion will re- 



236 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



quire some apology, and the only one I can offer regards 
the subject of it, and the readiness with which, your char- 
acter persuades me, you will furnish me the information 
required as soon as you have leisure to do so. 

" I am preparing to write the life of Thomas Paine, 
author of ' Common Sense,' etc. As you were acquaint- 
ed with him in Paris, and he mentioned you in his ' Age 
of Reason,' your opinion of his manners and habits, the 
company he kept, etc., would be very acceptable. 

"He was a great drunkard here, and Mr. M , a 

merchant of this city, who lived with him when he was 
arrested by order of Robespierre, tells me he was intox- 
icated when that event happened. 

" Did Paine ever take an oath of allegiance to France ? 
In his letter to the French people in 1792 he thanks them 
for electing him a member of the Convention, and for the 
additional honor of making him a French citizen. In 
his speech on the trial of the king he speaks, he says, as 
a citizen of France. There is some difference between 
being a member of a Convention to make a constitution 
and a member of the same body to try the king and 
transact other business. I should imagine that in the 
latter capacities an oath of allegiance would be necessary. 

" Any other information you would be pleased to com- 
municate, which in your judgment would be useful in 
illustrating his. character, will be gratefully received and 
used as you may direct." 

I am, etc., 

James Cheetham. 

To which Mr. Barlow replied : 

YiKLO^kWK, Aug. II, 1809. 

"■ To James Cheetham, Sir : 

" I have received your letter calling for informa- 
tion relative to the life of Thomas Paine. It appears 
to me that this is not the moment to publish the life 



7 



'/ 






JOEL BARLOW. 237 

of that man in this country. His own writings are his 
best life, and these are not read at present. 

" The greater part of readers in the United States 
will not be persuaded, as long as their present feelings 
last, to consider him in any other light than as a drunkard 
and a deist. The writer of his life who should dwell on 
these topics, to the exclusion of the great and estimable 
traits of his real character, might indeed please the rabble 
of the age, who do not know him ; the book might sell, 
but it would only tend to render the truth more obscure 
for the future biographer than it was before. 

" But if the present writer should give us Thomas Paine 
complete, in all his character, as one of the most benevolent 
and disinterested of mankind, endowed with the clearest 
perception, an uncommon share of original genius, and the 
greatest breadth of thought ; if this piece of biography 
should analyze his literary labors and rank him, as he ought 
to be ranked, among the brightest and most undeviating 
luminaries of the age in which he has lived, yet with a 
mind assailable by flattery, and receiving through that 
weak side a tincture of vanity which he was too proud to 
conceal ; with a mind, though strong enough to bear him 
up and to rise elastic under the heaviest hand of oppression, 
yet unable to endure the contempt of his former friends 
and fellow-laborers, the rulers of the country that had 
received his first and greatest services ; a mind incapable 
of looking down with serene compassion, as it ought, on 
the rude scoffs of their imitators, a new generation that 
knows him not ; a mind that shrinks from their society, 
and unhappily seeks refuge in low company, or looks for 
consolation in the sordid, solitary bottle, till it sinks at 
last so far below its native elevation as to lose all respect 
for itself and to forfeit that of his best friends, disposing 
these friends almost to join with his enemies, and wish, 
though from different motives, that he would hasten to 
hide himself in the grave — if you are disposed and pre- 
pared to write his life thus entire, to fill up the picture 



238 ^^^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

to which these hasty strokes of outHne give but a rude 
sketch with great vacuities, your book may be a useful 
one for another age, but it will not be relished, nor scarce- 
ly tolerated, in this. 

" The biographer of Thomas Paine should not forget his 
mathematical acquirements and his mechanical genius : 
his invention of the iron bridge, which led him to Europe 
in the year 1787, and which has procured him a great rep- 
utation in that branch of science in France and England, 
in both which countries his bridge has been adopted in 
many instances, and is now much in use. 

" You ask whether he took the oath of allegiance to 

France. Doubtless the qualification to be a member of 

\. the Convention required an oath of fidelity to that coun- 

\ try, but involved in it no abjuration of his fidelity to this. 

[ ^ He was made a French citizen by the same decree with 

i v*^ WashingtonyHamiltofi, Priestly, and Sir James Mackintosh. 

I \^ " What Mr. M has told you relative to the circum- 

\ stances of his arrestation by order of Robespierre is 

^ erroneous, at least in one point. Paine did not lodge at 

V the house where he was arrested, but had been dining 

there with some Americans, of whom Mr. M may 

have been one. I never heard before that Paine was 

*»^ Si intoxicated that night. Indeed, the officers brought him 

J., 'ii directly to my home, which was two miles from his lodg- 

*» ings and about as much from the place where he had been 

dining. He was not intoxicated when they came to me. 

Their object was to get me to go and assist them to 

examine Paine's papers. It employed us the rest of that 

night and the whole of the next day at Paine's lodgings, 

and he was not committed to prison till the next evening. 

" You ask what company he kept. He always frequented 

the best, both in England and France, till he became the 

object of calumny in certain American papers (echoes of 

the English court papers) for his adherence to what he 

thought the cause of liberty in France — till he conceived 



JOEL BARLOW. 239 

himself neglected and despised by his former friends in 
the United States. From that moment he gave himself 
very much to drink, and, consequently, to companions less 
worthy of his better days. 

" It is said he was always a peevish ingrate. This is 
possible. So was Lawrence Sterne, so was Torquato Tasso, 
so was J. J. Rousseau. But Thomas Paine, as a visiting 
acquaintance and as a literary friend, the only points of 
view from which I knew him, was one of the most instruct- 
ive men I have ever known. He had a surprising memory 
and a brilliant fancy ; his mind was a storehouse of facts 
and useful observations ; he was full of lively anecdote 
and ingenious, original, pertinent remarks upon almost 
every subject. 

" He was always charitable to the poor beyond his 
means, a sure protector and friend to all Americans in 
distress that he found in foreign countries. And he had 
frequent occasions to exert his influence in protecting 
them during the revolution in France. His writings will 
answer for his patriotism, and his entire devotion to what 
he conceived to be the best interest and happiness of 
mankind. 

" This, sir, is all I have to remark on the subject you 
mention. Now I have only one request to make, and 
that would doubtless seem impertinent were you not the 
editor of a newspaper; it is, that you will not publish 
this letter, nor permit a copy of it to be taken." 

Joel Barlow. 

Cheetham, however, disregarded the injunction, and 
published the letter in full in his Life of Paine. 

An interesting correspondence was also kept up with 
Jefferson during this period. Jefferson's letters to Bar- 
low were carefully preserved, and give interesting details 
of the character and pursuits of two great men. Several 
of the most important are here presented. The first was 
written shortly before his retirement from the Presidency. 



240 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



MONTICELLO, July 25, 1808. £ 
" Dear Sir : — Having been tempted by a cloudy day to 
leave Washington a day sooner than I intended, among 
other things which I omitted to do was the furnishing you 
an itinerary of the route to this place : it is as follows from 
Georgetown Ferry: 

Miles. Cents. 
To Wren's 6 38 

* " Fairfax Court House.. 8 65 

*" Centerville, about 7 50 Mitchell's is the best house. 

* " Red House, about .... 10 Mrs. Hereford's best ; Bronaugh's 

next. 

* " Fanquier C. House. . . 20 Norris' best, indeed a superlatively 

good one. 

- " Jefferson 9 80 Kuhn's, but even that a wretched 

place. 

* " Culpepper C. House. . 13 77 Capt. Shackleford. 

* " Orange C. House 19 83 

" Mr. Madison's 4 17 

* " Gordon 8 75 

* " Walton's Tavern 13 58 

" Monticello 7 58 

129 $6.01 

*' The houses marked thus * are pretty good, compara- 
tively ; — means bad. You asked me the best time of 
taking the journey, and I observed as well soon as late, 
but I found Mrs. Randolph in the straw, having increased 
her family on the i6th. Of course she will not be with us 
till a month from that, and for her sake as well as Mrs. 
Barlow's the visit will be doubly pleasing if so timed as 
that she should be here. In the hope that nothing may 
intervene to deprive us of the pleasure of possessing Mrs. 
Barlow and yourself here, after presenting her my respects, 
I salute you with friendship and great consideration." 

Th. Jefferson. 

To Mr. Barlow. 

Washington, Dec. 25, 1808. 
" Dear Sir : — I return you Dr. Maese's letter, which a 
pressure of business has occasioned me to keep too long. 



JOEL BARLOW. 24I 

I think an account of the manufactures of Philadelphia 
would be really useful, and that the manufactures of other 
places should be added from time to time, as information 
of them should be received. To give a perfect view of 
the whole would require a report from every county or 
township of the United States. Perhaps the present 
moment would be premature, as they are in truth but 
just now in preparation. The Government could not aid 
the publication by the subscription suggested by Dr. 
Maese without a special law for it. All the purposes for 
which they can pay a single dollar are specified by law. 

" The advantages of the veterinary institution proposed 
may perhaps be doubted. If it be problematical whether 
physicians prevent death, where the disease, unaided, 
would have terminated fatally, oftener than they produce 
it, where order would have been restored to the system 
by the process, if uninterrupted, provided by nature — and 
in the case of man who can describe the seat of his dis- 
ease, its character, progress, and often its cause — what 
might we expect in the case of the horse, mute and yield- 
ing no sensible and certain indications of his disease ? 
They have long had these institutions in Europe. Has 
the world as yet received one iota of valuable information 
from them ? If it has, it is unknown to me. At any rate, 
it may be doubted whether, where so many institutions 
of obvious utility are yet wanting, we should select this 
one to take the lead. — I return you Gibbon with thanks. 
I send you also, for your shelf of pamphlets, one which 
gives really a good historical view of our funding system, 
and of Federal transactions generally, from an early day 
to the present time. 

" I salute you with friendship and respect." 

Th. Jefferson. 

To Mr. Barlow. 

MONTICELLO, Oct. 8, 1809. 

" Dear Sir : — It is long since I ought to have acknowl- 
edged the receipt of your most excellent oration on the 
16 



242 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 




4th of July. I was doubting what you could say equal to 
your own reputation on so hackneyed a subject, but you 
have really risen out of it with lustre, and pointed to others 
a field of great expansion. A day or two after I received 
your letter to Bishop Gregoire, a copy of his diatribe to 
you came to hand from France. I had not before heard 
of it. He must have been eagle-eyed in quest of offence 
to have discovered ground for it among the rubbish 
massed together on the point he animadverts on. You 
have done right in giving him a sugary answer, but he 
did not deserve it ; for, notwithstanding a compliment to 
you now and then, he constantly returns to the identifi- 
cation of your sentiments with the extravagances of the 
revolutionary zealots. I believe him a very good man, 
with imagination enough to declaim eloquently, but with- 
out judgment to decide. He wrote to me also on the 
doubts I had expressed five or six and twenty years ago, 
in the '■ Notes on Virginia,' as to the grade of understand- 
ing of the negroes, and sent me his book on the literature 
of the negroes. His credulity has made him gather up 
every story he could find of men of color (without dis- 
tinguishing whether black, or of what degree of mixture) 
however slight the mention or light the authority on 
which they are quoted. The whole does not amount in 
evidence to what we know ourselves of Banneker. We 
know he had spherical trigonometry enough to make al- 
manacs, but not without the suspicion of aid from Elliot, 
who was his neighbor and friend, and never missed an 
opportunity of praising him. I have a long letter from 
Banneker, which shows him to have had a mind of very 
common stature indeed. As to Bishop Gregoire, I wrote 
him, as you have done, a very soft answer. It was im- 
possible for doubt to have been more tenderly or hesitat- 
ingly expressed than that was in the * Notes of Virginia,' 
and nothing was, or is, farther from my intentions than 
to enlist myself as the champion of a fixed opinion where 



JOEL BARLOW. 



243 



I have only expressed a doubt. St. Domingo will in 
time throw light on the question. 

" I intended ere this to have sent you the papers I had 
promised you, but I have taken up Marshall's fifth vol- 
ume, and mean to read it carefully to correct what is 
wrong in it, and commit to writing such facts and anno- 
tations as the reading that work will bring into my rec- 
ollection, and which have not yet been put on paper. 
In this I shall be much aided by my memorandums and 
letters, and will send you both the old and the new; but 
I go on very slowly. In truth, during the pleasant sea- 
son I am always out of doors employed, not passing more 
time at my writing-table than will despatch my current 
business ; but when the weather becomes cold I shall 
go out but little. I hope, therefore, to get through this 
volume during the ensuing winter, but should you want 
the papers sooner they shall be sent at a moment's warn- 
ing. The ride from Washington to Monticello in the 
stage or in a gig is so easy that I had hoped you would 
have taken a flight here during the season of good roads. 
Whenever Mrs. Barlow is well enough to join you in such 
a visit it must be taken more at ease. It will give us real 
pleasure whenever it may take place. I pray you to pre- 
sent me to her respectfully, and I salute you affection- 
ately." 

Th. Jefferson. 

Monticello, Dec. 31, 1809. 
" Dear Sir : — In removing my effects from Washington 
I had the misfortune of having a trunk stolen, which, be- 
sides papers of irretrievable value, contained other things 
highly prized, and among them nothing more so than a 
dynamometer I had just received from France. The Ag- 
ricultural Society of the Seine bad sent me one of Guil- 
laume's ploughs, which by that instrument was proved to 
require but half the force of their best ploughs, and they 
asked from me a plough with my mould-board. It was 
my wish, while doing this, to make a plough which might 



244 ^^^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

compete with theirs, and, I am confident, excel it. I 
therefore imported their dynamometer in order to prove 
mine with Guillaume's. I am now engaged in this work,, 
but have lost my dynamometer. I think you have one. 
Could you do me the favor to lend it to me for this ex- 
periment, as well as to aid me in the construction of other 
articles for my farms, which now engross all my atten- 
tion. It shall be carefully preserved and safely returned. 

" Mr. Carr, a nephew of mine, will be going on in some 
days to Washington, where he will make a short stay. 
He will bring it on by the stage under his own particular 
care. As you have also the spirit of farming, perhaps if 
I succeed in my plough you would think one of them 
worthy of acceptance. In the mean time, be assured of 
my constant friendship and respect." 

Th. Jefferson. 

To Joel Barlow, Esq. 

Could Barlow's history of the men and events of his 
day, for which such great preparations were made, have 
been written, doubtless its author's fame would have 
shone with brighter lustre, and an entirely different com- 
plexion been given the early history of the American 
people. During this period the poet also conducted a 
correspondence with Noah Webster, of considerable lit- 
erary interest. The letters, it will be observed, antedate 
the one of Oct. 13, 1808, in regard to the Columbiad, 
which Barlow never answered. 

New Haven, Oct. 19, 1807. 
" Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 12th has given me much 
pleasure ; not merely on the score of former friendship, but 
because it informs me of your favorable opinion of my 
Dictionary and of my further designs. The approbation 
of classical scholars is the most flattering reward that I can 
receive. By classical scholars I do not mean the conductors 
of some periodical publications in our country, whose in- 
quiries have been bounded by the perusal of a few mod- 



JOEL BARLOW. 245 

ern elegant writers, but men who have drunk deep of 
the Pierian spring. A few gentlemen of this character, 
like yourself, duly appreciate the merit of my labors, 
but the number is small ; my hope and expectations are 
that it will increase. You will recollect that Judge 
Trumbull and yourself were the only friends who^ in 1783, 
ventured to encourage me to publish my Spelling Book. 
The attempt to correct English books was thought a rash 
undertaking, yet more than 200,000 copies now sell 
annually. My Grammar had its run, but has been super- 
seded by Murray's. Both are wrong. I have lately 
published one on Home Tooke's plan, which President 
Smith, of Princeton, pronounces the best analysis of the 
language ever published. If I can, I will send you a 
copy. I have published three books of ' Elements of 
Useful Knowledge,' containing a brief history and geo- 
graphical view of America and the Eastern Continent. 
This is getting into use extensively with us, and if I can 
give it circulation in the Middle and Southern States the 
profits will enable me to bear the expenses of my great 
work. This is to me very interesting. I believe these 
volumes are in Philadelphia, at David Hogan's, in Third 
Street. I wish you would take a look at them. I have 
in the press an abridgment of my Complete Dictionary 
for common schools, omitting obsolete and technical 
terms, and reducing it to a dollar book. With the profits 
of these I hope to be able to finish my Complete Dic- 
tionary. If I could get two or three hundred subscribers 
to advance the price of it this would be all I should 
want ; but I have no expectation of such patronage, 
though I am confident there would be no hazard to the 
subscribers except that of my life. It will require the 
incessant labor of from three to five years. My views 
comprehended a whole system, intended to lay the founda- 
tion of a more correct practice of writing and speaking, 
as well as a general system of instruction in other 
branches. It is time for us to begin to think for our- 



246 LIF^ ^^D LETTERS OF 

selves. Great Britain is probably in her wane, and I look 
forward to the time when her descendants will reflect 
some light back on the parent nation. But immense 
hosts of prejudices are to be subdued. I agree with you 
that we ought to correspond and understand each other. 
Dr. Mitchell often suggests this union as important. I 
will cheerfully accord with any scheme of this kind that 
shall be deemed prudent and advantageous. I have sug- 
gested in brief my proposed reformation of orthography, 
confining my views chiefly to the reducing to unifor- 
mity such classes of words as error, favor, candor, and 
so forth ; public, music, and so forth ; theater, luster, 
and so forth ; and, secondly, to review the original or- 
thography of feather, tether, controller, and so forth, 
which have been corrupted. The Legislature of this 
state has adopted the latter, and in our laws we write 
controller. My plan is to correct rather than to inno- 
vate, for this is a subject of extreme difificulty. I, how- 
ever, will be accommodating. I endeavor to unite other 
opinions with my own on many points, and shall be 
happy to take the advice of my friends. The proof-sheet 
copy of an appendix to the notes to the Columbiad was 
not enclosed in your letter, I suppose by mistake. I 
shall be happy to see it. I am looking with impatience 
for the Columbiad, as I have heard much of the elegance 
of the work, and I have no doubt you have improved the 
poem. I shall be happy to receive your opinion on any 
subject favorable to American literature, and to be of 
any service to you in the pursuit. On the particular 
points of neology, and so forth, I will write you more fully 
after adjournment of the Legislature. Assure Mrs. Bar- 
low of my respect, and accept the same from your old 

friend." 

N. Webster. 

The following letter would apply with equal force to 
our day and generation : 



joel barlow. 24/ 

New Haven, Nov. 12, 1807. 
" The subject of your letter to me I deemed of too 
much consequence to be passed with a slight answer, and 
therefore postponed a detail of my opinion till I could be 
more at leisure than at the time I received it. Indeed, I 
have so much to say that I shall not be able to write all I 
wish, but will compress my ideas into as small a compass 
as possible. For more than twenty years, since I have 
looked into philology, and considered the connection be- 
tween language and knowledge, and the influence of a 
national language on national opinions, I have had it in 
view to detach this country as much as possible from its 
dependence on the parent country. It appears to me not 
only derogatory to us as a nation to look to Great Britain 
for opinions and practice on this subject, but I consider this 
species of dependence as extremely prejudicial, as it re- 
gards our political interest in a variety of ways which I 
need not write, because you doubtless think of the sub- 
ject in all its bearings. But there is another evil resulting 
from this dependence which is little considered ; this is, 
that it checks improvement. Not one man in a thousand 
— not even of the violent political opposers of Great Brit- 
ain — reflects upon this influence. Our people look to Eng- 
lish books as the standard of truth on all subjects, and 
this confidence in English opinions puts an end to inquiry. 
Our gentlemen, even in the colleges and professions, 
rarely question facts and opinions that come from Eng- 
lish authors of reputation ; hence we have no spirit of in- 
vestigation; and numerous errors are daily propagated 
from English presses which become current in this coun- 
try. I make not these remarks from prejudice against 
Great Britain. The fact would be the same if our people 
could all read French, or Spanish, and should read none 
but French or Spanish books. All nations have their in- 
terests and prejudices, which influence more or less all 
their popular writings. I have discovered many popular 
errors on other subjects thus propagated in the United 



248 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



States from our reliance on English books. But to con- 
fine myself to the language which I best understand. I 
can affirm that the standard English books abound with 
errors which nothing could have kept in countenance in 
this country but a blind veneration for English authori- 
ties. Our literary men investigate so little that they do 
not judge correctly of the talents and erudition of Eng- 
lish writers, many of whom are not half so learned as 
our people suppose. My new Grammar and the letter to 
Dr. Murray will show you what I think, and what I have 
proved, upon a small scale, in regard to the most popular 
works on philology. In truth, we shall always be in lead- 
ing strings till we resort to original writers and original 
principles instead of taking upon trust what English 
writers please to give us. But I need not enlarge upon 
this subject. You must certainly understand it better 
than I do ; you know the manner in which book-7naking 
is carried on in England, and how, with a due portion of 
puffing from the reviewers, almost anything may obtain 
currency in this country. Leaving therefore a considera- 
tion of the cause of the evil let us attend to the remedy. 
On this subject I want your opinion. In the mean time, 
accept a short review of what I have done, without making 
much noise respecting my ultimate. My plan has been 
to furnish our schools with a tolerably complete system 
of elementary knowledge in books of my own, gradu- 
ally substituting American books for English, and wean- 
ing our people from their prejudices and from their con- 
fidence in English authority. For this purpose I have 
endeavored to make, in the first place, my spelling book 
as perfect as possible. To this end I have done what is 
not done in any other book of the kind. I have col- 
lected and classed all the more difficult and irregular 
words, so that after leading the child through tables of 
easy words I present him, in short tables, all the varieties 
of anomaly ; and when he has mastered this little book 
he has overcome the chief difficulties in learning the Ian- 



JOEL BARLOW. 249 

guage ; and as our books should have special reference 
to the local knowledge most necessary for us, I have in- 
troduced the names of places in this country. No Eng- 
lish compilation can answer our purpose for want of such 
tables. Murray's Quaker friends are taking great pains to 
introduce his spelling book, which wants the best and 
most necessary part of such a work, and in which the di- 
vision of syllables in old Dilworth is preserved and vindi- 
cated. This scheme, I trust, will fail. As books for read- 
ing, I have published a selection of essays which has been 
in use with many others of a like mind. It is so easy to 
make books of this sort, and so difficult to make one bet- 
ter than others, that I expect nothing from this compila- 
tion. But my ' Elements of Useful Knowledge ' I think 
a v/ork of more consequence. In the two first volumes I 
have given a brief but correct account of the settlement 
and history of the United States. The historical part 
was collected from original documents, or the best histo- 
ries. These volumes contain what all our children ought 
to learn ; for, in addition to the history and geography 
of the country, the work contains an abridgment of the 
Constitution of the United States, and of the Constitu- 
tions of all the states, with an American chronological 
table, which I made with ease. 

" The third volume contains a geographical view of the 
other parts of the Globe, from the latest discoveries. 
These three volumes are so divided into sections that 
they may be read in classes, and. intended either as read- 
ing books or for committing to memory. In our schools 
the children learn many whole chapters by heart. I 
have a volume on natural history — or, rather, zoology — 
nearly finished, and shall add one or two others on 
other subjects. I deem it very important that these 
works should be known, and, if practicable, introduced 
into schools in all the states, as not only appropriately 
useful in themselves, but as auxiliary to the main design. 
Next comes my * Philosophical and Practical Grammar,' 



250 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

lately published, in which I have developed what appear 
to be the real structure and idioms of our language. I 
have left Louk and Johnson, and mounted to the origi- 
nal writers, as far back as the first Saxon laws and annals. 
The result is, that many of the principles of grammar as 
taught in Louk formerly, and now in Murray (whose book 
is nothing but Louk's altered and enlarged), prove to 
be totally false ; and I affirm that those grammars now 
taught introduce more errors than they correct. It is be- 
lieved to be extremely important that this subject should 
be immediately laid before the public. Murray is a dili- 
gent, neat compiler, but utterly destitute of that mind 
of erudition necessary to enable a man to adjust princi- 
ples of language. Next follow my dictionaries. One of 
them is in your hands. An abridgment of that is nearly 
through the press. This is intended for common English 
schools — containing about 30,000 words — all, indeed, that 
a mere English farmer or mechanic can want ; technical 
words are omitted. This will be sold at a dollar. Lastly 
will come my ' Complete Dictionary,' which, I trust, will 
contain all that is valuable in any and all the English 
books of this kind and supersede the use of them all. 
This is a work of vast labor, and in the execution of it I 
want all the advice and assistance that my friends can af- 
ford. My plan is, if possible, to condense the whole into 
half the size of Johnson in quarto, and to publish one 
large 4to or two large imperial 8vos. Our men of letters 
are not generally men of property, and I wish to accom- 
modate this work to their circumstances. To do this 
I must very much abridge Johnson's exemplifications. 
Indeed, on a careful examination, I am satisfied that a 
large proportion of them are useless, throwing not the 
least light on his definitions. My improvement will con- 
sist in adding all the legitimate words which are now 
used, and which are not in the English dictionaries ; 2d. 
In rendering the definitions far more precise, and in ex- 
hibiting what may be called the specific differences of 



JOEL BARLOW. 2Ci 

signification, a thing not yet done in any language, as far 
as my knowledge extends ; 3d. In developing the origin 
and history of numerous /^m/zVj- of words, which, spring- 
ing from a common root or element, have ramified into 
many modern languages. In this part of the work much 
new and valuable light is to be diffused over a very curi- 
ous and obscure subject ; 4th. To settle the orthography 
of words ; when doubtful, recourse will be had to the 
primitive word, and the true etymology. The changes 
of orthography will not be numerous, and these all war- 
ranted by the original spelling and by principles of strict 
analogy. A few other improvements of minor import- 
ance I need not specify; such as the scheme I have 
lain for rendering our citizens more and more indepen- 
dent. The outline was drawn more than twenty years 
ago, but my circumstances compelled me to suspend the 
execution of it, for the purpose of getting bread by 
other business, until within a few years last past. Even 
now my resources are inadequate to the work ; my in- 
come barely supports my family, and I want five hun- 
dred dollars' worth of books from Europe which I cannot 
obtain here, and which I cannot afford to purchase. I 
have made my wishes known to men of letters by a cir- 
cular accompanied by certificates, and have issued a sub- 
scription paper, but I have not any encouragement that 
one cent will be advanced by all the wealthy citizens of 
my country. I must therefore drudge on under all the 
embarrassments which have usually attended like under- 
takings. It is important that the friends of this species 
of improvement should be united, and aid each other. 
We have to oppose us the publishers of most of the pop- 
ular periodical works in our large towns. The Gazette 
of the United States and Portfolio in Philadelphia, the 
Evening Post in New York, the Anthology in Boston, 
are all arrayed against me and my designs. Perhaps an 
apology may be found for the publishers in their utter 
ignorance of the subject, or of my views. The gentle- 



252 



LIFE AA'D LETTERS OF 



n 



men are among those who repose impHcit confidence in 
Johnson's opinions, never having examined the subject 
enough to question their justness. This opposition may 
be weakened immediately, and ultimately overthrown ; 
but it requires some address, for I believe they are sup- 
ported by the weight of public opinion — all founded on 
that confidence in English authorities before mentioned. 
In my favor is President Smith, of Princeton, and the 
faculties of most of the Northern colleges — Dr. Mitchell, 
Dr. Morse, and so forth. Indeed, the men of education 
generally in the country towns, if not favorable, are at 
least unprejudiced. The large towns are more thor- 
oughly English in this respect than the country. I hope 
my letter to Dr. Ramsay will have some effect in remov- 
ing the veil of blindness ; but I want some active friends; 
such I have not hitherto found. Let me suggest the 
expediency of consulting men at the head of affairs on 
the general topics here mentioned, — and would not a 
general view of this subject from the leading public prints 
be useful, accompanied perhaps by a candid review of my 
books ? The public, especially in the Middle and South- 
ern States, have never had their attention called to the 
subject. If you think with me on these subjects I will 
thank you for your thoughts and advice ; and, if you 
wish, I will send you a copy of such of my books as you 
have not. ' 

N. Webster. 

Another phase of the poet's character is shown in a 
series of letters written to his nephew and prot^g6, 
Thomas Barlow, the orphan son of his favorite brother, 
Col. Aaron Barlow. He placed the lad at school, first, 
at Fairfield,' Ct., then at Colchester, and, on his being 
fitted, entered him at Yale. His letters to the lad, and 
to the lad's brother, Stephen Barlow, contain maxims that 
might well be heeded by all parents and guardians. 

" I am surprised at what you tell me of the progress of 
the boy," he writes Stephen Barlow. " Encourage him ; 



JOEL BARLOW. 253 

tell him I rejoice to hear his praise, and that he shall not 
want for the means of obtaining a good education if he 
will do his best. But though you must not suffer him to 
neglect his books, you must see that he does not bend over 
them too much. Keep him in habits of bodily exercise 
for the preservation of health, which is the first of all ob- 
jects, and ought to be so considered in every plan of edu- 
cation ; after. this, take care of his manners, his mode of 
speaking; let his language in conversation be grammatical, 
his utterance clear, elegant, and graceful. It is as easy at 
his age to form good habits as bad ones, to acquire such 
as will be ornamental and useful, as well as those that 
must be unlearned with infinite difficulty, or else stay by 
him all his days, and make him awkward and forbidding, 
painful to himself and disagreeable to his friends." 
Again : " Tell him that by next year at this time he must 
be master of Homer, so as to explain it well to me ; Ho- 
mer is my Magnus Apollo, and Thomas must be my little 
priest to go between me and the god and expound to me 
his oracles." In the fall of 1807 he is at doubt whether 
to remove the lad from Fairfield. " You seem to think he 
is doing well," he writes, "but one thing must be wanting 
to him there — a chance for emulation. I suppose there 
are few, if any, boys to class with him. I think I under- 
stood there were none pursuing the same studies, or, at 
least, so far advanced as he : if so, it is a strong motive 
for removing him to Colchester, which, I have understood, 
was a good school, and numerous in students farther ad- 
vanced. . . . We must enjoin it upon your wife to watch 
over the boy's manners, dress, and behavior; to make him 
keep clean his hands, face, teeth, and linen. See that 
he sits and acts well at table, walks, speaks, moves, and 
even thinks with propriety, and approaching to elegance. 
The letter for him I leave open for you to read if 
you like. It is best to seal before you send them to him, 
to teach him method and order." Again : " I don't know 
whether his ambition wants winding up now and then 



254 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



like a clock ; if it does, you and your wife must do it. I 
must insist on his being a superior scholar ; and not only 
that, but a gentleman in his manners, and sentiments, and 
language." 

At last the boy was ready for college, and was furnished 
by his uncle " with several introductory letters to friends 
in New Haven." " His letters to Wolcott and Silliman," 
he adds, " I look upon as most essential. Those men 
may be of great use to him. Wolcott, I believe, is in the 
senior class, and a good scholar. Mr. Silliman I treated 
with particular politeness in London, for which he was 
thankful at the time, and I am sure he has not forgot it. 
He is an amiable man, and an able chemist." The Presi- 
dent he does not like ; " but it is not best," he adds, " to 
give Tom any unfavorable ideas of him. It may be best 
that he should respect him, for on some accounts he is 
doubtless respectable. . . . You must have a watchful 
eye upon Thomas at New Haven. Though the advant- 
ages there are greater than at minor schools, yet the 
temptations to idleness and extravagance are greater also. 
But few have the courage to resist these temptations. 
One of the best preservatives against the vices incident 
to such situations is a certain poorness of purse — not abso- 
lute poverty, but bordering upon it. It will not be diffi- 
cult to guage him properly in this respect, then keep up 
his ambition. Let him never forget that he has got 
nothing but his own merit to depend upon — which is, 
and must be, the fact." 

Several letters which passed between uncle and ward 
have also been preserved. The boy's related largely to 
the subjects of the studies he was pursuing. Barlow's 
in reply were models of elegance and force, directing, 
criticising, commending the lad's efforts. In a letter 
commending a dissertation on the life of Cicero which 
the latter had written occurs this characteristic passage : 
" Middleton is a very judicious writer and has employed 
his talents on a most important subject. Perhaps no 



JOEL BARLOW. 255 

great man has had his Hfe so well written as Cicero, and 
very few have so well deserved it. Middleton's only- 
fault, if it is a fault, is a little partiality to the moral 
qualities of his hero. But Cicero, as a friend of liberty, 
and a strenuous advocate of public justice, is such a 
favorite with me, that I scarcely think of his vanity, or 
any other of his weaknesses. They are the weaknesses 
of human nature in its very noblest specimen. Had I 
written his life I should have been more partial to him 
than Middleton has been, that is, I should have been 
more enthusiastic in his praise — but it would have been 
a fault." 



256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



CHAPTER IX. 

1811-1813. 

In the year 181 1 American relations with both France 
and England were of the gravest character. The two 
powers, engaged in the life-and-death struggle, were seiz- 
ing and destroying everything that came in their way. 
There was scarcely a right of neutrals they had not out- 
raged. England had opened the attack by issuing her 
"Orders in Council," declaring all French ports and 
rivers from the Elbe in Germany to Brest in France in 
a state of blockade, and Bonaparte had retaliated by his 
famous " Berlin Decree," declaring the British Islands 
blockaded, and that all intercourse with them by neutral 
vessels must cease — a decree, it may be said, directly con- 
trary to the terms of the treaty then existing between 
the United States and France. 

Seizure of American vessels in the English trade by 
French cruisers soon followed, and at the same time vig- 
orous restrictions were placed on American commerce in 
French ports. 

American products were heavily taxed. American ves- 
sels were compelled to receive for return cargoes certain 
specified goods, chiefly silks : they were subject to tedious 
investigations in unusual forms, and, when seized, their 
release could be obtained, if at all, only after great ex- 
pense and delay. The repeated protests of the Ameri- 
can minister against these enormities were disregarded. 
It seemed that to protect her commerce the young nation 
must take up the gage thrown down by the conqueror of 
Europe. Yet it was resolved by Madison and his advis- 
ers to make one last attempt at negotiation : it was also 
clearly seen that the success of the mission must depend 



JOEL BARLOW. 257 

largely on the ambassador entrusted with it. Napoleon 
was France : he, therefore, was the person to be acted 
upon. He was known to be crafty, imperious, dictatorial, 
changeable, but approachable by flattery, by his desire 
of being thought a patron of Poetry and the Arts, and by 
former service — for instance, by a man who had once 
addressed the National Convention, and who had been 
made a French citizen for his services in expelling the 
Bourbons. Instinctively the eyes of Madison and his 
Cabinet turned on Joel Barlow as the man most available 
for this mission. It was much easier to fix upon him, 
however, than to induce him to accept. He had reached 
the age when travel becomes a burden, and he knew too 
well the difficulties and vexations which would attend 
the mission ; besides, he was deeply engrossed in literary 
pursuits. His History of the United States, under Jef- 
ferson's watchful care and encouragement, was fast assum- 
ing form, while another literary project of importance — 
the publication of his works in a series — -had not even as- 
sumed shape. Yet at the demand of his country he con- 
sented to forego all and accept the mission. His selec- 
tion seems to have been applauded by the respectable 
men of all parties, although Barlow at the outset had 
a disagreeable feeling that he would not have the hearty 
support of all his countrymen in his mission.* 

* We adduce the following letter from that staunch Federalist, Judge 
Henry Baldwin, of the Supreme Court : "You have been much vilified in 
the Federal papers, but it is not the opinion of the party that you ought not 
to be the Minister to France. On the contrary, such men as Ross, and 
others of the most influential Federalists, do not hesitate to give their decided 
opinion that you are the fittest man that could be sent. Those only abuse 
you who would abuse everybody appointed by Mr. Madison, and every- 
thing he does. The opinion of such a man as Ross is of more weight than 
that of fifty printers, and is more clearly indicative of the real sentiments of 
the party. The country in general approves of your appointment, and 
there never could be a finer opportunity presented of giving yourself a solid 
and permanent standing. For as nothing could be effected by Armstrong 
(the retiring minister), and as little is to be expected from the faith of the 
French Government, every amelioration in our situation with France will 
17 



258 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



Kalorama was in a sad state of confusion during the 
months of May and June, 1811. The estate was leased, 
not sold, for the poet hoped, though he had forebod- 
ings, to return and finish his days there. A package was 
made of his published works and sent to Fulton, with 
the request that he would publish them in order, and 
do justice to his friend's memory in the event of that 
friend's not returning. Thomas Barlow was called from 
his class in Yale College to accompany his uncle to 
France, and there complete his studies. Miss Clara Bald- 
win, Mrs. Barlow's half-sister, the poet's especial favorite, 
who had been for some years a member of the family at 
Kalorama, was also invited to accompany them. 

Early in July the arrangements had been perfected, 
and the ambassador only awaited his papers and instruc- 
tions from the State Department before beginning his 
journey. On the 26th of July they were received — a com- 
mission and letter of credence, a letter of instructions, and 
other documents necessary to further the object of his 
mission. Mr. Monroe's letter of instructions very fully 
informed the ambassador what he was expected to ac- 
complish. " The United States have claims on France," 
it said, " which it is expected her Government will satisfy 
to their full extent, and without delay. These are 
founded partly on the late arrangement, by which the 
non-importation law of the 1st May, 18 10, was carried 
into effect against Great Britain, and partly on the in- 
juries to their commerce committed on the high seas, 
and in French ports. To form a just estimate of the 
claims of the first class it is necessary to examine mi- 
be attributed to your personal influence and exertion. Be assured that the 
rant o£ the papers on either side is not the voice of the country. I have 
touched on this subject lest you might think that because the great leading 
presses publish every calumny against you, and the little silly copyists re- 
peat it, that one half of the country is in array against you. You go on 
your mission with as much of the public confidence as any other man could 
possess in these times, and with a great prospect of securing additional 
fame. " 



JOEL BARLOW. 259 

nutely their nature and extent. The present is a proper 
time to make this examination, and to press a com- 
pliance with the arrangement in every circumstance, on 
its just principles, on the Government of France. The 
President, conscious that the United States have per- 
formed every act that was stipulated on their part with 
the most perfect good faith, expects a like performance 
on the part of France. He considers it pecuharly in- 
cumbent on him to request such explanations from her 
Government as will dissipate all doubt of what he may 
expect from it in future on this and every other ques- 
tion depending between the two nations. By the act of 
May I, 1 8 10, it was declared that in case Great Brit- 
ain or France should, before the 3d day of March, 181 1, 
so revoke or modify her edicts as that they should 
cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United 
States, which fact the President should declare by proc- 
lamation ; and if the other nation should not, within 
three months thereafter, revoke or modify its edicts in 
like manner, then the 3d, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, loth, and 
i8th sections of the act entitled, 'An act to interdict the 
commercial intercourse between the United States and 
Great Britain and France,' should, from and after the 
expiration of three months from the date of the proc- 
lamation aforesaid, be revived and have full force and 
effect, so far as relates to the dominions, colonies, and 
dependencies of the nation thus refusing or neglecting 
to revoke or modify its edicts in the manner aforesaid. 
This act, having been promulgated and made known to 
the Governments of Great Britain and France, the min- 
ister of the latter, by note bearing date on the 5th Au- 
gust, 1 8 10, addressed to the Minister Plenipotentiary of 
the United States at Paris, declared that the decrees of 
Berlin and Milan were revoked, the revocation to take 
effect on the ist day of November following, but that 
this measure was in compliance with the law of ist May, 
1 8 10, to take advantage of the condition contained in it, 



26o LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and in full confidence that that condition would be en- 
forced against Great Britain if she did not revoke her 
Orders in Council, and renounce the new principles of 
blockade. This declaration of the Emperor of France 
was considered a sufficient ground for the President to 
act on. It was explicit as to its object, and equally so 
as to its import. The decrees of Berlin and Milan, which 
had violated our neutral rights, were said to be repealed, 
to take effect at a subsequent day, at no distant period ; 
the interval was apparently intended to allow full time 
for the communication of the measure to this Govern- 
ment. The declaration had, too, all the formality which 
such an act could admit of, being through the official 
organ on both sides — from the French Minister of For- 
eign Affairs to the Minister Plenipotentiary of the 
United States at Paris. In consequence of this note 
from the French Minister of Foreign Affairs of the 5th 
August, 1 8 10, the President proceeded on the 2d Novem- 
ber following, to issue the proclamation enjoined by the 
act of May ist of the same year, to declare that all the 
restrictions imposed by it should cease, and be discon- 
tinued in relation to France and her dependencies. 
And in confirmation of the proclamation of the President, 
Congress did, on the 2d March, 181 1, pass an act 
whereby the non-importation system provided for by the 
3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, loth, and i8th sections 
of the act entitled, 'An act to interdict the commercial 
intercourse between the United States and Great Britain 
and France, and their dependencies,' was declared to be 
in force against Great Britain, her colonies, and depen- 
dencies, with a provision in favor of such vessels or 
merchandises as might be seized before it was known 
that Great Britain had revoked or modified her edicts 
within the time and in the manner required by the said 
act, if such should be the case ; and with a provision also 
in favor of any ships or cargoes owned wholly by citizens 
of the United States, which had cleared out for the 



JOEL BARLOW. 261 

Cape of Good Hope, or for any other port beyond the 
same, prior to the 2d day of November, 18 10. Both 
of these provisions were, in strict justice and good faith, 
due to the parties to be affected by the law. They were 
also conformable to the spirit of the arrangement to ex- 
ecute which the law was passed. As Great Britain did 
not revoke or modify her edicts in the manner proposed 
the first provision had no effect. 

" I will now inquire whether France has performed her 
part of this arrangement. 

" It is understood that the blockade of the British Isles 
is revoked. The revocation having been officially de- 
clared, and no vessel trading to them having been con- 
demned or taken on the high seas that we know of, it is 
fair to conclude that the measure is relinquished. It ap- 
pears that no American vessel has been condemned in 
France for having been visited at sea by an English 
ship, or for having been searched or carried into Eng- 
land, or subjected to impositions there. On the sea, 
therefore, France is understood to have changed her sys- 
tem. Although such is the light in which the conduct 
of France is viewed in regard to the neutral commerce of 
the United States since the 1st of November last, it 
will, nevertheless, be proper for you to investigate fully 
the whole subject, and to see that nothing has been, or 
shall be, omitted on her part, in future, which the 
United States have a right to claim. 

" Your early and particular attention will be drawn to 
the great subject of the commercial relation which is to 
subsist in future between the United States and France. 
The President expects that the commerce of the United 
States will be placed in the ports of France on such a 
footing as to afford to it a fair market, and to the in- 
dustry and enterprise of their people a reasonable en- 
couragement. An arrangement to this effect was looked 
for immediately after the revocation of the decrees, but 
it appears from the papers in this department that that 



262 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

was not the case ; on the contrary, that our commerce 
has been subjected to the greatest discouragement, or 
rather to the most oppressive restraints ; that the vessels 
which carried coffee, sugar, etc., though sailing directly 
from the United States to a French port, were held in a 
state of sequestration, on the principle that the trade 
was prohibited, and that the importation, of those articles 
was not only unlawful, but criminal-, that even the ves- 
sels which carried the unquestionable productions of the 
United States were exposed to great and expensive de- 
lays, to tedious investigations in unusual forms, and to 
exorbitant duties ; in short, that the ordinary usages of 
commerce between friendly nations were abandoned. 
When it was announced that the decrees of Berlin and 
Milan v/ere revoked, the revocation to take effect on the 
1st November last, it was natural for our merchants to 
rush into the ports of France, to take advantage of a 
market to which they thought they were invited. All 
these restraints, therefore, have been unjust in regard to 
the parties who suffered by them ; nor can they be rec- 
onciled to the respect which was due this Government. 
If France had wished to exclude the American com- 
merce from her ports she ought to have declared it to 
this Government in explicit terms ; in which case due 
notice would have been given of it to the American 
merchants, who would either have avoided her ports or 
gone there at their own hazard. But to suffer them 
to enter her ports under such circumstances, and to 
detain them there under any pretext whatever, cannot 
be justified. It is not known to what extent the injuries 
resulting from these delays have been carried. It is 
evident, however, that for every injury thus sustained 
the parties are entitled to reparation. If the ports of 
France and her allies are not opened to the commerce of 
the United States on a liberal scale, and on fair condi- 
tions, of what avail to them, it may be asked, will be the 
revocation of the British Orders in Council. In contend- 



JOEL BARLOW. 263 

ing for the revocation of those Orders, so far as it was 
an object of interest, the United States had in view a 
trade with the continent. It was a fair and legitimate 
, object, and worth contending for, while France encour- 
aged it. But if she shuts her ports on our commerce, 
or burdens it with heavy duties, that motive is at an 
end. 

" That France has a right to impose such restraints is 
admitted ; but she ought to be aware of the conse- 
quences to which they necessarily lead. The least that 
ought to be expected to follow would be such counter- 
vailing restrictions on the French commerce as must 
destroy the value of the intercourse between the two 
countries, and leave to the United States no motive of 
interest to maintain their right to that intercourse by a 
sacrifice of any other branch of their commerce. Ade- 
quate motives to such a sacrifice could only be found in 
considerations distinct from any reasonable pretensions 
on the part of France. To the admission of every article, 
the product of the United States, no objection is antici- 
pated, nor does there appear to be just cause for any to 
the admission of colonial produce. A supply of that 
produce will be annually wanted in France, and other 
countries connected with her, and the United States 
alone can furnish her during the war. It will doubtless 
be to the interest of France and her allies to avail her- 
self of the industry and capital of the American mer- 
chants, in furnishing those articles by which the wants of 
her people will be supplied, and their revenue increased. 
Several of the colonies belonged to France and may 
again belong to her. Great Britain, by securing to her 
own colonies the monopoly of the home market, lessens 
the value of the produce of. the conquered colonies. 
France cannot be indifferent to the distresses of her late 
colonies, nor ought she to abandon, because she cannot 
protect them. In pressing this important object on the 
Government of France, it will not escape your attention 



264 Z/i^^ AND LETTERS OF 

that several important articles in the list of colonial pro- 
ductions are raised in Louisiana, and will, of course, be 
comprised among those of the United States. 

*' You will see the injustice, and endeavor to prevent the 
necessity of bringing in return for American cargoes sold 
in France an equal amount in the produce or manufact- 
ures of that country. No such obligation is imposed 
on French merchants trading to the United States. 
They enjoy the liberty of selling their cargoes for cash, 
and taking back what they please from this country in 
return, and the right ought to be reciprocal. It is in- 
dispensable that the trade be free; that all American 
citizens engaged in it be placed on the same footing: 
and with this view, that the system of carrying it on 
by licenses granted by French agents, be immediately 
annulled. You must make it distinctly understood by 
the French Government, that the United States cannot 
submit to that system, as it tends to sacrifice one part of 
the community to another, and to give a corrupt influ- 
ence to the agents of a foreign power in our towns, 
which is, in every view, incompatible with the principles 
of our Government. It was presumed that this system 
had been abandoned some time since, as a letter from 

the Duke of Cadore, of , to Mr. Russell gave assurance 

of it. Should it, however, be still maintained, you will 
not fail to bring the subject without delay before the 
French Government, and to urge its immediate abandon- 
ment. The President having long since expressed his 
strongest disapprobation of it, and requested that the 
consuls would discontinue it, it is probable, if they still 
disregard his injunction, that he may find it necessary to 
revoke their exequators. I mention this that you may 
be able to explain the motive to such a measure should 
it take place, which, without such explanation, might 
probably be viewed in a mistaken light by the French 
Government. 

" It is important that the rate of duties imposed on our 



JOEL BARLOW. 265 

commerce, iri every article, should be made as low as pos- 
sible. If they are not, they may produce the effect of a 
prohibition. They will be sure to depress the article, 
and discourage the trade. 

" You will be able to ascertain the various other claims 
which the United States have on France for injuries done 
to their citizens under decrees of a subsequent date to 
those of Berlin and Milan, and you will likewise use 
your best exertions to obtain an indemnity for them. 
It is presumed that the French Government will be 
disposed to do justice for all these injuries. 

" In looking to the future, the past ought to be fairly 
and honorably adjusted. If that is not done, much dis- 
satisfaction will remain here, which cannot fail to pro- 
duce a very unfavorable effect on the relations which are 
to subsist in future between the two countries. The 
first of these latter decrees bears date at Bayonne, on the 
17th of March, 1808, by which many American vessels 
and their cargoes were seized and carried into France ; 
and others, which had entered her ports in the fair course 
of trade, were seized and sequestered or confiscated by 
her Government. 

" It was pretended, in vindication of this measure, that 
as, under our embargo law, no American vessel could nav- 
igate the ocean, all those who were found on it were 
trading on British account, and therefore lawful prizes. 
The fact, however, was otherwise. At the time the 
embargo was laid a great number of our vessels were at 
sea, engaged in their usual commerce, many of them on 
distant voyages. Their absence, especially as no previ- 
ous notice could be given them, was strictly justifiable 
under the law ; and as no obligation was imposed on 
them by the law to return, they committed no offence by 
remaining abroad. Other vessels, inconsiderable in num- 
ber, left the United States in violation of law ; the latter 
committed an offence against their country, but none 
against foreign powers. They were not disfranchised 



266 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

by the act. They were entitled to the protection of 
their Government, and it had a right to inflict on them 
the penalty which their conduct had exposed them to. 
The Government of France could withdraw them from 
neither of these claims. The absence of none of these 
vessels was a proof that they were trading on British 
account. The cargoes which they carried with them, the 
value of which was much enhanced by the embargo, 
were alone an ample capital to trade on. As the pretext 
under which these vessels were taken is no justification 
of the act, you will claim an indemnity to our citizens for 
every species of injury arising from it. 

" The Rambouillet Decree was a still more unjustifiable 
aggression on the rights of the United States and invasion 
of the property of their citizens. It bears date on the 
23d March, 18 10, and made a sweep of all American prop- 
erty within the reach of French power. It was also 
retrospective, extending back to the 20th May, 1809. 
By this decree every American vessel and cargo, even 
those which had been delivered up to the owners, by 
compromise with the captors, were seized and sold. 

" The law of March i, 1809, commonly called the non- 
intercourse law, was the pretext for this measure, which 
was intended as an act of reprisal. 

" It requires no reasoning to show the injustice of this 
pretension. Our law regulated the trade of the United 
States with other powers, particularly with France and 
Great Britain, and was such a law as every nation has a 
right to adopt. It was duly promulgated, and reasonable 
notice given of it to other powers. It was also impartial 
as related to the belligerents. The condemnation of such 
vessels of France and England as came into the ports of 
the United States in breach of this law was strictly 
proper, and could afford no cause of complaint to either 
power. The seizure of so vast a property as was laid 
hold of, under that pretext, by the French Government 
places the transaction in a very fair light. If an indemnity 



JOEL BARLOW. 267 

had been sought for an imputed injury, the measure of the 
injury should have been ascertained, and the indemnity 
proportioned to it. But, in this case, no injury had been 
sustained on principle. A trifling loss only had been in- 
curred, and for that loss all the American property which 
could be found was seized, involving in indiscriminate 
ruin innocent merchants who had entered the ports of 
France in the fair course of trade. It is proper that you 
should make it distinctly known to the French Govern- 
ment that the claim to a just reparation for these spolia- 
tions cannot be relinquished, and that a delay in making 
it will produce very high dissatisfaction with the Govern- 
ment and people of the United States. 

" It has been intimated that the French Government 
would be willing to make this reparation, provided the 
United States would make one in return for the vessels 
and property condemned under, and in breach of, our non- 
intercourse law. Although the proposition was objec- 
tionable in many views, yet this Government consented 
to it, to save so great a mass of the property of our citi- 
zens. An instruction for this purpose was given to your 
predecessor, which you are authorized to carry into effect. 
The influence of France has been exerted to the injury 
lof the United States in all the countries to which her 
power has extended. In Spain, Holland, and Naples it 
has been sensibly felt. In each of these countries the 
vessels and cargoes of American merchants were seized 
and confiscated under various decrees, founded on dif- 
ferent pretexts, none of which had even the semblance of 
right to protect them. As the United States never in- 
jured France, that plea must fail ; and that they had 
injured either of those powers was not pretended. You 
will be furnished with the documents which relate to 
these aggressions, and you will claim of the French Gov- 
ernment an indemnity for them. The United States 
have also just cause of complaint against France for 
many injuries that were committed by persons acting 



268 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

under her authority. Of these, the most distinguished 
and least justifiable are the examples which have occurred 
of burning the vessels of our citizens at sea. Their atro- 
city forbids the imputation of them to the Government. 
To it, however, the United States must look for repara- 
tion, which you will accordingly claim. It is possible 
that in this enumeration I may have omitted many inju- 
ries of which no account has yei been transmitted to this 
department. You will have it in your power to acquire 
a more comprehensive knowledge of them at Paris, which 
it is expected you will do, and full confidence is reposed 
in your exertions to obtain of the French Government 
the just measure of redress. France, it is presumed, has 
changed her policy towards the United States. The 
revocation of her decrees is an indication of that change, 
and some recent acts more favorable to the commercial 
intercourse with her ports, the evidence of which will be 

found in the copy of a letter from her minister here of 

strengthens the presumption. But much is yet to be 
done by her to satisfy the just claims of this country. 
To revoke blockades of boundless extent, in the present 
state of her marine, was making no sacrifice. She must 
indemnify us for past injuries, and open her ports to our 
commerce on a fair and liberal scale. If she wishes the 
profit of neutral commerce she must become the advocate 
of neutral rights, as well by her practice as her theory. 
The United States, standing on their own ground, will be 
able to support those rights with effect ; and they will 
certainly fail in nothing which they owe to their character 
or interest. The papers relative to the Impetuetix , the 
Revanch de Cerf, and the French privateer seized at New 
Orleans will be delivered to you. They will, it is pre- 
sumed, enable you to satisfy the French Government of 
the strict propriety of the conduct of the United States 
in all those occurrences." 

Such were the vexed questions which the ambassador 
was expected to settle agreeably to the best interests of 



JOEL BARLOW. 269 

both countries. The historic frigate Constitution, com- 7^ 
manded by Captain Hull, had been ordered to "Annapolis 
to transport him to France, and thither he repaired with 
his party on the 1st of August. Many friends had as- 
sembled to bid them God speed, and when the last good- 
byes were said the gallant vessel spread her sails, and 
gay with bunting, and responding heartily to the salutes 
of the forts oil shore, swept down the bay. To know 
the poet's reflections on beginning this his second exile 
would be interesting, and fortunately we have them in a 
letter to Fulton, dated Hampton Roads, Aug. 2, 181 1. 
" Here we are," he wrote, " 24 hours from Annapolis — 
a most delightful passage down the Chesapeake. We 
are just coming to anchor to give Captain Hull time to 
receive 100 men from the Essex, lying at Norfolk. I 
shall go on shore and stay the night. My wife is in ex- 
cellent spirits, the captain and all the officers very amia- 
ble, the most perfect harmony, discipline, cleanliness, and 
comfort prevails. Never was a fairer prospect of a good 
passage ; but my heart is heavy. I have left my coun- 
try, possibly — and why not probably ? — forever. But if 
such should be the result it will not be my fault ; that 
is, the fault of my inclination or wishes. I go with an 
ardent wish, but without much hope, of doing good, and 
with the full intention, though with a feeble hope, of liv- 
ing to return." 

The Constitution reached Cherbourg on the 8th of 
September, whence the ambassador proceeded directly to 
Paris. He arrived at a most inauspicious moment for a 
hearing. Napoleon, foiled by Russia in his designs on 
the German principalities, was making ready for his inva- 
sion of that powerful country. Maps, plans, military re- 
ports, the organization of an army of a million of men, 
and the intrigues of a score of courts, occupied his atten- 
tion, to the exclusion of the affairs of the little republic 
three thousand miles away. The business, which might 
have been concluded in a few days, occupied months and 



270 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



years. Barlow's correspondence with the French Em- 
peror and his ministers during this period would fill a 
volume ; it shows him making desperate efforts to hold 
them to something definite, and they in turn making the 
smoothest promises, but never reaching the decisive 
point — which was the signing of a treaty practically con- 
ceding all that the United States asked. Many things 
he accomplished, such as the release of American vessels 
unjustly seized and held, and the abrogation of many of 
the restrictions on American commerce ; but the Em- 
peror seemed to have a strange reluctance to signing the 
treaty, although assenting individually to its conditions. 

It was not until the nth of October, 18 12, that Bas- 
sano, the Minister of Foreign Relations, could be made 
to appoint a definite time and place for the signing of the 
treaty. On that date he wrote from Wilna — Napoleon 
then being engaged in his disastrous invasion of Russia 
— this letter : 

" Sir : — I have had the honor to make known to you 
how much I regretted, in the negotiation commenced be- 
tween the United States and France, the delays which 
inevitably attend a correspondence carried on at so great 
a distance. Your Government has desired to see the 
epoch of this arrangement draw near. His Majesty is 
animated by the same dispositions, and willing to assure 
to the negotiation a result the most prompt, he has 
thought that it would be expedient to suppress the inter- 
mediaries, and to transfer the conference to Wilna. His 
Majesty has, in consequence, authorized me, sir, to treat 
directly with you, and if you will come to this town I 
dare hope that, with the desire which animates us both 
to conciliate such important interests, we will immedi- 
ately be enabled to remove all the difiliculties which un- 
til now have appeared to impede the progress of the ne- 
gotiation. I have apprised the Duke of Dalberg that his 
mission was thus terminated, and I have laid before his 
Majesty the actual state of the negotiation, to the end 



JOEL BARLOW. 27 1 

that when you arrive at Wilna, the different questions 
being already illustrated, either by your judicious obser- 
vations, or by the instructions I shall have received, we 
may, sir, conclude an arrangement so desirable, and so 
conformable to the mutually amicable views of our two 
Governments." 
Accept, sir, etc. 

The Duke of Bassano. 

To this note Mr. Barlow replied : 

Paris, October 25, 18 12. 
" Sir : — In consequence of the letter you did me the 
honor to write me on the nth of this month, I accept 
your invitation, and leave Paris to-morrow for Wilna, 
where I hope to arrive in fifteen or eighteen days from 
this date. The negotiation on which you have done me 
the honor to invite me at Wilna is so completely prepared 
in all its parts between the Duke of Dalberg and myself, 
and, as I understand, sent on to you for your approbation 
about the i8th of the present month, that I am per- 
suaded, if it could have arrived before the date of your 
letter, the necessity of this meeting would not have ex- 
isted, as I am confident his Majesty would have found 
the project reasonable and acceptable in all its parts, and 
would have ordered that minister to conclude and sign 
both the treaty of commerce, and the convention of in- 
demnities." 

Joel Barlow. 

A year of anxious, unwearied labor had been spent in 
bringing the treaty thus far : now in the little Polish 
town where Napoleon was directing the march of his le- 
gions into Russia the most gratifying success seemed 
awaiting him. He at once began preparations for the 
journey; but before detailing its hardships and tragic 
ending, it is proper to return and fill out the bare outlines 
of the poet's third residence in Paris with a few touches 
of color. On arriving in the city, after seven years' ab- 



2/2 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



sence, they found their old house in the Rue de Vaugi- 
rard empty, and at once installed themselves in it. Old 
friends were there to welcome them, and their old ser- 
vants hastened to tender their fealty. 

" We have been here about a week," Mr. Barlow wrote 
Alexander Wolcott, Sept. 26th, ''and the reception we 
have had from our old friends is affectionate and affect- 
ing. Our ancient servants are pressing around us with 
tears of gratitude and attachment, and even the old 
coach horses, which we gave to a friend in the country on 
condition that they should be kept on his farm as long 
as they should live, would certainly try to come back to 
us if they were not dead. But they, with some other of 
our friends, have died of old age." And again, in No- 
vember, a letter containing this passage : " We have 
moved into our comfortable, airy, handsome, well-situated 
house, which is really one of the best in Paris. The gar- 
den, planted with my own hand, is doubly interesting 
from our absence of seven years, especially as the trees 
and shrubs are grown up into thickets. Our old French 
friends, too, are very affectionate, and we find more of 
them than we expected. How much more cordial and 
friendly my reception is here than it was in any part of 
our own country (except at your house and one or two 
others)." In a letter to Stephen Barlow he introduces 
an old acquaintance : " Tom is as happy as a prince. He 
is sucking the milk and honey from three colleges, all at 
once. He takes chemistry from one, natural philosophy 
from another, and astronomy from a third ; and I had like 
to have forgotten, that at the fourth — that is, where he 
lives — he takes his mathematics, his fencing, dancing, 
drawing, and French language. All this business is done 
at once, while he grows fat under it, and comes to dine 
with us every Sunday." The poets, philosophers, and 
other men of ideas, also soon found their way back to the 
Rue Vaugirard. Helen Marie Williams and her coterie of 
literary people were still there to welcome him. Volney, 



JOEL BARLOW. '273 

from his quiet retreat at Saville, often invited him out to 
dine, and as often visited him in town. Letters from 
various members of the family show that they mingled 
much in the gay society of the capital during this period. 
" Our girls will write you about courts, and fashions, and 
finery," wrote the poet to Mrs. Madison, soon after his 
arrival. " My tour of duty is over. I am now initiated 
in the mysteries." Mrs. Barlow wrote to the same lady, 
with whom she regularly corresponded while abroad : 
'' Mr. Brooks has given us many little (as well as great) 
anecdotes respecting Washington and our friends there. 
We had an account of the French and English ministers' 
balls, with all the little etcs., the sleighing parties and the 
general gayety which reigned there." In the same letter 
she invites Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Madison's sister, to 
spend the next winter with them in Paris. " I want to 
send you some pretty things in embroidery which are 
the high style here," she continues ; " gold and silver with 
silk done on mull. Mr. Lee has sent you so much of 
every kind of dress, and it is so difficult to send to the 
port, and then to get any one to take charge of valuable 
things, that I shall send nothing." Poor lady ! something 
far different from visits, dress, and pretty things the 
coming winter was to bring her. Through the bright 
days of October the ambassador was employed, as we 
have seen, in preparing for the journey into the Polish 
wastes. It was to be performed in his own carriage, and 
Thomas Barlow was to accompany him as his secretary 
and travelling companion. " His journey will be long 
and cold, 650 leagues, half the way through a country of 
bad roads and almost destitute of everything," wrote Mrs. 
Barlow to Mrs. Madison a few days after his departure. 
"He set off, however," she acjds, "with great courage 
and high-raised expectations (which he thought well 
founded) of succeeding to his wish, and to the satisfac- 
tion of our Government." It appears, from letters writ- 
ten by Thomas Barlow, that the course of the travellers 
18 



274 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



was through the provinces of Champaign, Lorraine, and 
the old ^principality of Massau to Frankfort-on-the. 
Main, where they arrived Oct. 30th. They reached Ber- 
lin Nov. 5th, having passed directly over the battle-field 
of Jena, where, six years before, Napoleon had put an 
end to the power of the Prussian monarchy. 

"A monument," the letter writer observes, " is erected 
on the spot where the Duke of Brunswick was mortally ^ 
wounded." They arrived at Koenigsberg on Nov. nth, 
after *' riding all day along the banks of the Baltic." 
" Uncle is perfectly well," the secretary adds, " and 
though we have rode for the greater part of the time 
since we left Paris, day and night, I believe neither of 
us are more fatigued than when we first stepped into the 
carriage. There has been scarcely a day without rain 
since that time, which has made the roads very bad, and 
the nights dark and unpleasant. The weather has been 
very moderate, and we have had no ice or frost but once 
— the night after we left Frankfort. But they tell us 
here they have had no frost this season, which is very 
remarkable." Mr. Barlow, in a letter to Miss Baldwin 
from Koenigsberg, dated Nov. 12th, gives a more pictur- 
esque account of the journey. From its importance we 
insert it entire : " I know of no good reason why I should 
not write you a letter unless I promised to do it, and no 
great man ought to keep his word. But I will break 
over this rule, because no man can be very great in the 
view of his intimate friends, who see his weaknesses. It is 
better in his own house to be good than great. If it had 
not been for my uncommon health and spirits this would 
have been a dreary journey. My patriotism created a 
great anxiety to get on fast, and that anxiety gave out a 
constant supply of animal spirits, which, when tempered 
with a due care of the organic frame of the man, is a 
great contributor to his health. Thus you see the love 
of country has some substantial benefits — when it con- 
tributes to the health and comfort of the individual. 



JOEL BARLOW. 2/5 

These roads have probably never been so cut up since 
the wars of Wittikind and Charlemagne,* and you could 
not make a set of darker nights, or call out of heaven 
With all your prayers a more unceasing succession of 
rain. Eight of these nights we have been on the road, 
four in succession at one time, and three at another. 
Three other nights we stopped after midnight, and were 
going again as soon as day broke. The worst of it was, 
that the universality and great preponderance of the mud 
prevented me from getting out of the carriage to walk 
up hill or down hill. Even the inside of the post-houses, 
where I got myself hoisted in once a day to eat my 
boiled milk, was often too muddy for my nice, clean, 
boots, whose habitual position on the long wool of my 
sheepskin on the floor of the carriage rendered it highly 
proper that they should be kept clean. Thus my posi- 
tion within my nice, strong, comfortable carriage (not a 
pin's head of which has started to this day, over these 
eleven hundred miles of racking, rending, slumping, 
slouching, rocks and mud) was monotonous but toler- 
able. Tom was all the while sucking in ideas like a calf ; 
his soul seemed to fatten. I have given him a great 
many lessons on life and manners, history and politics, 
science and literature. Among the rest I am teaching 
him the German language, which he shall have well 
before he gets back ; in return, he has read to me the 
whole of Robertson's ' Charles the Fifth/ from beginning 
to end : and from here to Wilna I believe he must read 
the same book backwards, from end to beginning, for we 
have little else to read, except the ' Columbiad 'and 'Iliad/ 
and those are too sacred to be mangled and chopped up 
by unhallowed lips and untuneful tones of voice. I 
hope Tom has given you and sister some account of the 
instructive part of our travels, such as tombs, temples, 



* Napoleon's Russian army of invasion had passed over them a short 
time before. 



2/6 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



and monuments, especially those moving monuments of 
the wisdom of war — the hundreds of wagon loads of in- 
valid soldiers returning from Russia, covered with glory, 
rags, and mud." Nov. 20th, Thomas Barlow wrote 
from Wilna : "We arrived on the i8th, three weeks 
from Paris. ... I wrote you from Koenigsberg that we 
had had no cold weather, but the evening after, the 
weather suddenly changed, and next morning when we 
started the ground was frozen hard enough to bear our 
carriage. The cold continued very severe for several 
days, and froze over all the rivers ; but it is now moder- 
ated, and we have had a little snow. The first day 
after the frost the roads were very rough, but soon be- 
came smoother on account of the great number of 
wagons passing to and from the army, and have now 
become much better than before the cold weather. . . . 
Our road, after leaving Koenigsberg, ran along the 
river Praegel, which we crossed four or five times. We 
passed through Gambiner, a place where the Emperor 
stayed a day or two and issued several orders. Soon 
after leaving this place we came into Poland, that part 
which belongs to the King of Saxony, and here we begin 
to perceive a difference in the appearance and manners 
of the people. They generally live in log huts, and 
have the appearance of the greatest poverty; but the 
scarcity of provisions on the way was not as great as we 
expected, as we found everything necessary to eat and 
drink. So far, we have always found beds where we have 
stayed, but they now begin to be unfashionable, so we 
are obliged to make our beds of straw, when we are so 
lucky as to find it. We crossed the Niemen on the 
morning of the 17th at Kowno. We arrived on the 
bridge in the night, and found the gates shut, so we were 
obliged to sleep irk our carriage on the bridge. This 
bridge is new, built of wood, and has been finished but 
two weeks. Kowno is the first town we came to in Rus- 
sia, or what belonged to Russia before the present war. 



JOEL BARLOW. 277 

It is full of soldiers, and, besides those stationed there, we 
met a great number of sick and wounded men retreating 
from the army. After crossing the river, from Kowno to 
Wilna, the country is everywhere devastated and many 
of the houses destroyed. The people have the appear- 
ance of the greatest poverty and distress, for their log 
huts are so open as to expose them to the snow and rain. 
The country is not cultivated, and part is covered with 
fir trees and pines. The horses are as much to be pitied 
as the people, for their appearance is much worse, and 
we saw hundreds lying dead in the roads. As we 
approached Wilna we saw the road, sometimes a mile in 
length, crowded with wagons loaded with clothing and 
provisions for the army. As we came near the entrance 
to the town the crowd became still greater, and after 
entering the gate, the streets were so crowded with 
wagons loaded with baggage, together with sick and 
wounded soldiers, that we were an hour or two getting 
to the place where we lodge. . . , Wilna contains about 
37,000 inhabitants, and some parts are well built, but it 
is scarcely possible to get the conveniences of life. The 
Emperor is expected here in a few days, and it is prob- 
able that this will be the headquarters during the 
winter." 

On the 22d he writes again: "The Poles appear to 
be a very gay and lively people, but have no idea how to 
live, nor are the log huts they live in much better than 
those of our Western savages. They generally wear 
their hair and beard long, dress in sheepskins, and 
have a kind of fur cap which is difficult to describe. 
.... Kowno is a considerable town, but the inhabit- 
ants appear very poor and miserable, and together 
with the sick and wounded soldiers, with which the town 
is filled, present awretched sight. This, however, was 
but the beginning of the scene, for after this we saw 
such sights of misery and distress that even the de- 
scription of it would sicken you. The country is every- 



278 LIP^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

where devastated, many of the houses burned, others half 
unroofed, and the miserable inhabitants left exposed to 
the snow and rain : but this was nothing when we looked 
at the scenes the sick, dying, and dead soldiers presented 
on the way. Every few rods we found dead horses in 
the road, and some just dropped down and dying. To 
see poor soldiers, half naked, crawling into houses, and 
asking for a shelter to die under, that they may not be 
left in the street, is a shocking sight, but is Avhat hap- 
pens every day on the road, and, I am told, even in this 
town. I never knew what misery and distress was 
before. . . . You know, I suppose, that the Emperor 
has evacuated Moscow, and is on his way to Wilna. 
The Russians have an army on each side of him, and are 
trying to cut off his retreat, though it is thought he will 
drive them back ; but at present all communication be- 
tween him and this place is cut off." 

Nov. 29th he continues the narrative: "We are in a 
hotel which has been reserved for foreign ministers, and 
where several are lodged. The Danish minister, who is 
a very pleasant man, is on the same floor with us, and 
we eat at the same table. Wilna is a much larger and 
finer town than I expected. The houses are mostly 
built of stone, and some of the churches are very fine. 
The town is situated in a valley, and just out of the 
gates, in the faubourgs, runs the Wilia, a small, rapid 
river, which furnishes excellent fish. The hills on every 
side are very high, and some are crowned, the ruins of 
old towers or fortifications presenting a scene truly 
romantic. From the tops of some of these hills are the 
finest prospects I ever saw, presenting a view of the 
whole city and all the neighboring country. . . . Yester- 
day a courier arrived here from the Emperor, which is 
the first that has passed for about two weeks. We have 
news that he has had a skirmish with the Russians, and 
drove them back a little ; but we have not the particu- 
lars, though it is supposed that he has opened his way so 



JOEL BARLOW. 27 Q 

that he may arrive here in the course of the week. The 
town is already filled with troops, so I cannot see what 
they will do for lodging when the headquarters are 
established. The crowd is now so great that I can 
scarcely walk through the streets without being run 
over, but it must be much greater in a few days. This 
is said to be the most destructive war known in modern 
times, and I could give you some accounts which would 
confirm this. It is not very cold here, but everything is 
covered with snow, and looks like a Connecticut winter. 
The roads, I believe, are now very good, and I hope that 
before they become bad again we shall be ready to 
return." 

Six days longer the ambassador lingered, hoping that 
his restless, uncertain antagonist might retreat on Wilna 
and make that his depot for the winter, in which case 
there would be a chance of saving the treaty. But on 
the 4th of December a weary, half-frozen courier dashed 
into the town with despatches for Bassano. Napoleon 
was at length heard from. The bloody battle of Beresina 
had been fought, the French defeated, the army not in 
retreat but in disgraceful flight, and the Emperor riding 
post-haste for France. He had retired from the battle- 
field in a square battalion, which defended him from the 
attacks of the Cossacks, who dashed upon it repeatedly, 
crying out, " King of France, surrender yourself." Get- 
ting out of the immediate vortex he had cowardly aban- 
doned his army, and now, in a close carriage on sleigh 
runners, and under an assumed name, was hastening on 
to Paris. The courier bore an order to the Duke to meet 
him for consultation two leagues to the eastward of 
Wilna. Manifestly the treaty was lost : furthermore, it 
was a matter of the gravest importance to leave the 
town "before the flying army with its savage pursuers 
should reach it, and involve all in their ruin. Prepara- 
tions were therefore made for immediate departure ; 
but for details of the retreat we must again have recourse 



28o L^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

to our young chronicler. Under date of December 13th, 
1812, he writes his aunt: "The distance on the road that 

we were obliged to take is about 380 miles The 

Emperor arrived at Wilna on the 6th, the day after, we 
left. He is now on his way to Paris, where, I suppose, 
he will arrive before this letter, as he travels night and 
day without guards. He passed us on the road, and 
stayed at Warsaw but four hours. It is well we stayed 
no longer at Wilna, for the report is that the Russians 
are already there, and the road between here and that 
place is no longer safe. The second night after we left 
Wilna was the coldest I ever knew, and we rode all 
night without getting out of the carriage ; Fahrenheit's 
thermometer stood at 13° or 14° below zero, or 45 or 46 
below freezing point. I never felt air that stung like this : 
it continued so for two days, but it is now more moder- 
ate. The roads are now very good, as they are covered 
with snow and worn smooth. We crossed the Niemen, 
this time at Grodno, about 150 miles this side of Wilna, 
and as the bridge had been broken down we were 
obliged to cross on the ice." 

He continues, on the i/th, in a letter to Miss Clara: 
" I suppose you already know that we have arrived at 
Warsaw, and I can now tell you when we shall leave it 
for Paris : that will be to-morrow morning at 4 o'clock. 
We shall go by the way of Cracow, Vienna, and Munich. 
It is a little farther than the northern route by Dresden, 
but the roads are much better, and the country more 
interesting, if, indeed, there is anything interesting in a 
temperature of 12° or 14° below zero, the points that my 
thermometer has marked for many days. I think we 
shall risk losing our noses if we put them out of the car- 
riage to look at the country as we pass. M. Petry, who 
is now here, will accompany us. . . . But instead of tell- 
ing you what we are going to see 1 had better tell you 
what we have seen. ... I have found by experience 
that it is best, when travelling in Poland, to have a light 



JOEL BARLOW. 28 1 

carriage, for their post-horses, particularly in Lithuania, 
are not much larger than rats, so it requires a consider- 
able number of them to draw a carriage. To verify this 
I will tell you what happened to us and the Danish min- 
ister the day we left Wilna. We were to start together at 
9 o'clock in the morning, and ordered horses for that 
hour, eight for his carriage and six for ours, as his was 
the heaviest. The Danish minister started, and in a few 
minutes we tried to follow him, but our six horses could 
not draw us out of the town : they fell down in the 
streets, and our postilion ran off. We were till 3 o'clock 
in the streets of Wilna before we could procure horses 
strong enough to draw the carriage. At length the gov- 
ernor of the town ordered 6 good horses for us from the 
artillery, and then we went on very well. At 5 o'clock, 
about 10 miles from Wilna, we found the Danish min- 
ister at the foot of a small hill, with 13 horses to his car- 
riage, and could get no farther. We lent him 3 more, 
which made 16. He then managed to get up the hill, 
and as there was no more rising ground before com- 
ing to the next post he got along very well. . . . Prince 
Poniotowski is now here, wounded. He first commanded 
74,000 men, the whole of the Polish army, of which it is 
said about 1000 are alive. We see many colonels return 
without a man of their regiments left. The late battles 
near the Beresina have been very bloody: nothing to 
equal them in modern wars. They have lost nearly all 
of their horses, and most of them have been eaten by the 
army. The soldiers were very glad to find dead horses, 
those which had perhaps starved to death, that they 
might eat them. The officers fared no better. I heard 
an officer say that he had seen soldiers cut pieces out of 
live horses to eat, and without killing them." 

On the 1 8th of December the party left Warsaw in 
their close carriage. It consisted of Mr. Barlow, Thomas, 
the secretary, and M. Petry, an official of the French 
Government, and an old friend of the former in Paris. 



282 LI^'^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 

The weather continued as cold, the privations of the 
journey quite as severe. The buoyant hope and " patri- 
otism " which had borne the ambassador up on his out- 
ward journey had given place to the bitterness of de- 
feat : before the first stage of the journey was past it 
became evident to his companions that he was seriously 
ill. At Zarnowiec,* a little village on the farther side of 
Cracow, his disorder had so far developed that it was 
found necessary to stop there and call in medical assist- 
ance ; but it was too late ; the disease rapidly devel- 
oped into acute inflammation of the lungs, and in five 
days resulted in his death. He died December 24, 1S12. 
Very full and affecting particulars of the event are given 
in the following letter, written from Paris by Miss Clara 
Baldwin to Mrs. President Madison, on behalf of her sis- 
ter. 

Paris, \Q>th February, 181 3. 
" Death has entered our happy family and torn from it 
its head, its support, its all, and left us a prey to sorrow 
and unavailing regret. My poor sister is overwhelmed 
M'ith anguish, and the melancholy task of writing to 
those friends who best knew and loved the dear departed 
devolves ow me ; and after our family, you, our much 
esteemed friend, will most sensibly feel this cruel be- 
reavement. The death of Mr. Barlow is attended with 
almost every circumstance of aggravation which can be 
combined. He undertook the journey to Wilna with a 
reluctance he could not conquer ; before he yielded he 
was assailed by all the great men here with every argu- 
ment likely to shake his firmness ; and con\'inced at last 
that his duty to his country required it, and that his Gov- 
ernment Avould blame him if he did not go, he could say 
no more. Patriotism alone could have induced him to 
have undertaken at that season such a long, fatiguing 
journey, over the worst roads ever travelled, into those 

* The name is variously spelled. The above is that given by Thomas 
Barlow in his letter. 



JOEL BARLOW. 283 

frozen, inhospitable regions devastated by war, where the 
common necessaries of life were difficult to procure, and 
a little clean straw for a bed, without any covering, a 
luxury every traveller was not so fortunate as to procure. 
All hardships, inconveniences, and deprivations he disre- 
garded and travelled with astonishing rapidity, never 
stopping night or day unless storms and darkness ren- 
dered it dangerous to proceed. The unexpected, un- 
fortunate turn of affairs in the north rendered his jour- 
ney as useless to his country as it was fatal to himself- 
and at the very moment, too, when complete success 
seemed ready to crown his labors. 

" His sufferings after he left Wilna, from the intense 
cold, vast quantity of snow, and for want even of a 
hovel to shelter under at night, obliged to travel con- 
stantly and eat during that time frozen bread and drink 
frozen wine, — the limits of a letter will not allow me to 
describe, and few constitutions, however robust, could 
bear with impunity. Illness compelled him to stop at 
Zarnowitch, near Cracow, in Poland, and here, for the first 
time from his leaving Warsaw, he found a good house, 
good bed, a kind, attentive family, and every comfort 
which his situation demanded, for want of which he had 
been obliged to travel when he was unable : but it was 
too late ; the disorder proved an inflammation on the 
lungs, which had been long time seated, and after a few 
days' suffering terminated his useful life. It was the wish 
and intention of Thomas Barlow, who was with him, to 
have had the body embalmed and transported to Amer- 
ica by Dantzic, or to bring it away with him ; but fate 
seemed to have decreed otherwise. The Cossacks were 
in possession of the neighboring country, which they were 
ravaging with fire and sword, sparing neither age, sex, 
nor condition, and every moment he expected them, so 
that his life would have been the sacrifice of his remain- 
ing any longer, and the mountains of snow rendered it 
impossible to bring away the body with him, as it was 



284 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



with the utmost danger and difficulty that he and his 
servant escaped. 

" This circumstance adds double poignancy to our 
anguish, especially to my poor sister's : it harrows up her 
soul to think his precious remains lie buried in such a 
distant, savage land, and that in a few months there will 
be an impassable distance between her and them. It 
would be a melancholy consolation to her if they were de- 
posited at Kalorama, or indeed in any part of the coun- 
try he loved so well, and in whose service he expired. 
I hope his countrymen will do justice to his worth and 
his virtues, and that his memory will live forever. There 
probably never was a death which created such an uni- 
versal sensation, or one more lamented by all classes of 
society, than Mr. Barlow's. He may justly be considered 
as another of (Napoleon's) victims. From the conscious- 
ness of this, and the desire of the Government to conceal 
as much and as long as possible the disasters of this fatal 
campaign, which has filled every family with mourning 
and desolation, or from some political motive with re- 
gard to England (which seems most probable), may be 
imputed the extraordinary circumstance of Mr. B.'s 
death not having been mentioned in any of the papers 
here ; hence it is hardly known out of Paris, and even 
many in it to whom notices have been sent, doubt it. 

" The Americans all wear mourning, with the excep- 
tion of W , and have sent an address to my sister, 

signed by every one but him." 

News of the death of her minister did not reach the 
United States until the succeeding March. The Con- 
necticut Courant (Hartford) announced the sa4 news in 
its issue for March 9, 1813, as follows: "The schooner 
Thetis has arrived at Philadelphia. Captain Bolton 
has despatches for Government, announcing the death of 
Mr. Barlow, our minister at the court of France. He died 
on the road between Dresden and Paris of a fever brought 
on by the fatigues of his journey to and from Wilna." 



JOEL BARLOW. 285 

Mr. Madison, in his second inaugural, thus referred to 
the deceased minister: '* The sudden death of the distin- 
guished citizen who represented the United States in 
France, without any special arrangements by him for 
such a conclusion, has kept us without the expected se- 
quel to his last communications: nor has the French 
Government taken any measures for bringing the de- 
pending negotiations to a conclusion through its repre- 
sentative in the United States." 

The Republican journals received the news of his 
death with every expression of regret, and published for- 
mal eulogiums on his life and character; the Federalists 
merely announced the fact of his death. In France, the 
poet's demise excited, perhaps, a more general feeling of 
regret than in his own country. 

On the receipt of the news in Paris, the Americans 
resident there called a public meeting, at which resolu- 
tions of sorrow at the untimely decease of the states- 
man, as well as formal eulogiums on his talents and worth, 
were passed. A letter of condolence was also voted 
and sent to Mrs. Barlow, who all through the terrible 
journey had been waiting and suffering in Paris, and 
was now bearing as best she might the bitter sorrows of 
widowhood. The letter of condolence is rather a tame 
affair, but that of Mrs. Barlow in reply, for brevity, sim- 
plicity, and a mournful eloquence, has rarely been ex- 
celled. This is the letter : 

" Gentlemen : — With sentiments of grateful acknowl- 
edgment I receive the assurances of esteem and regard 
which my resident countrymen in Paris bore my dear 
departed husband. He left his peaceful retreat with 
no other motive than a desire to be useful to his country. 
To that ardent desire he sacrificed his life, and devoted 
me to unceasing sorrow. Yet it will be most soothing to 
my afflicted heart to know that my countrymen do him 
justice, and will permit his memory to live in their re- 
membrance. Ruth Barlow." 



286 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

His death was referred to in terms of sorrow and re- 
gret by the leading French journals, and at the annual 
meeting of the Society for the Encouragement of National 
Industry, with which Barlow had been identified, held 
in the succeeding March, the Duke de Nemours deliv- 
ered a glowing eulogium on his life and character, which 
was reported in full in the Paris Mercury for the i8tk 
of April, 1813. The same year Oelsners published at 
Paris a sketch of his life and writings in quarto form, ac- 
companied by one canto of the " Columbiad," translated 
into French heroic verse. If the reader is curious to 
know what action the American republic took toward 
perpetuating the memory of her martyred servant the 
answer is — Nothing: she accepted his services, but left his 
bones to moulder, unmarked, on the bleak Polish wastes 
where he fell. Wifely love, however, supplied the omis- 
sion and erected a monument above his grave, to which 
a French savant contributed an elegant Latin epitaph, 
and which his friend, Helen Marie Williams, dedicated 
in these lines — 

" When o'er the Polish desert's trackless way 
Relentless Whiter rules with savage sway, 
When the shrill polar storms, as wild they blow, 
Seem to repeat some plaint of mortal woe, 
Far in the cheerless space the traveller's eye 
Shall this recording pillar long descry, 
And give the sod a tear where Bailow lies — 
He who was simply great and nobly wise. 
Here, led by patriot zeal, he met his doom, 
And found amid the frozen wastes a tomb. 
Far from his native soil the poet fell. 
Far from that western world he sang so well. 
Nor she, so long beloved, nor she was nigh 
To catch the dying look, the parting sigh ; 
She who, the hopeless anguishto beguile. 
In fond memorial rears this funeral pile. 
Whose widowed bosom on Columbia's shore 
Shall mourn the moments that return no more, 
While bending o'er the wide Atlantic wave 
Sad fancy hovers on the distant grave." 



JOEL BARLOW. 28/ 

Late in the autumn of 1813 Mrs. Barlow and her 
sister, accompanied by Thomas Barlow and the young 
French lady he had married, returned to America, and 
took up their residence at Kalorama. Here, in quiet 
and seclusion, the bereaved lady spent the remaining 
years of her eventful life, and died in 1818, greatly re- 
vered for her amiable character and deeds of charity. 
The old seat. of Kalorama still remains intact, although 
the capital city in its onward march is fast approaching its 
gates. In the south-west corner of the grounds, on the 
banks of a little rivulet shaded by fine old forest trees, 
stands the ruinous brick tomb in which her remains, with 
those of the Senator and the Judge, her brothers, and 
others of her family repose. Two marble slabs, set into 
the brickwork on either side of the door, bear these in- 
scriptions : 

" Sacred to the repose of the dead and the meditation of 

the living. 
Joel Barlow. 
Patriot, Poet, Statesman, and Philosopher, lies buried in 
Zarniwica, in Poland, where he died 24th December, 
1812, ^t. 58 years and 9 months. 

Ruth Baldwin Barlow, 
His wife, died 29th May, 1818, M\.. 62 years. 

Abraham Baldwin, 

Her brother, died a Senator in Congress from Georgia, 

4th March, 1807, Mt. 52 years. 

'His memory needs no marble ; 
His country is his monument, 
Her Constitution his greatest work.' 

George Bomford, 

Colonel of the Ordnance of the United States, died 25th 

March, 1848, yEt. 66 years. 

Henry Baldwin Bomford, 
His son, Sept. 9th. 1845. 



288 l^p^ ^^d letters of 

Henry Baldwin, 
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, died April 21st, 1844, ^t. 64 years." * 

*The writer visited Kalorama in February, 1881. He is informed that the 
tomb has since been removed. 



JOEL BARLOW. 289 



CHAPTER X. 

PERSONAL. 

The critic, after a careful analysis of the character of 
Joel Barlow, would probably rank him, first, as philan- 
thropist ; second, as statesman ; third, as philosopher; and 
fourth, as poet. His philanthropy crops out in every line 
of his writings, in every act of his life. His letters to 
Washington, to the citizens of the United States, to 
Monroe, while abroad on the French mission, and his 
Fourth of July oration at Washington, give evidence of 
broad and liberal statesmanship. His philosophical turn 
was most apparent in his private letters and intercourse 
with familiar friends. As a poet he was certainly re- 
spectable. His "Hasty-Pudding" would be an addition 
to any literature, and in all his poems are passages that 
show the inspiration of the true poet. It is as the pio- 
neer of American poetry, however, that he is worthy of 
the highest honor. He was not a voluminous writer, the 
following being, it is believed, a complete list of his pub- 
lished works : 

^ I. " The Prospect of Peace," a political composition, de- 
livered in Yale College at the examination of the candi- 
dates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, July 23, 1778. 
i2mo, pp. 12. New Haven, 1778. 

H. '' Elegy on the late Titus Hosmer." 8vo. Hart- 
ford, 1780. 

HI. " A Poem spoken at Yale College," 1781. 
> IV. Imitation of the Psalms of David, translated by 
Dr. Isaac Watts, corrected and enlarged by Joel Bariow. 
To which is added a collection of hymns. The whole 
applied to the state of the Christian Church and religion 
19 



2Q0 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

in general. i2mo, pp. 384. Index and tables. Glasgow, 
1786. 

V. " An Oration delivered at the North Church, Hart- 
ford, at the meeting of the Connecticut Society of the 
Cincinnati, July 4, 1787, in commemoration of the Inde- 
pendence of the United States." Quarto, pp. 20. Hart- 
ford, 1787. 

VI. " The Vision of Columbus," a poem in nine books, 
i2mo, pp. 264. London, 1787. 

VII. "A Letter to the National Convention of France 
on the defence of the Constitution of 1791, and the ex- 
tent of the amendment which ought to be made." 8vo, 
pp. 70. London, 1792. 

VIII. " Advice to the Privileged Orders in the several 
States of Europe. Resulting from the necessity and pro- 
priety of a general revolution in the principles of Gov- 
ernments." i2mo, pp. 128 and 88. London, 1792. 

IX. "The Conspiracy of Kings, a poem addressed to 
the inhabitants of Europe from another quarter of the 
Globe." 4to, pp. 20. London, 1792. 

X. Preface and Notes to the fifth edition of Trumbull's 
" McFingall." London, 1792. 

XI. " The Anarchiad," a satirical, political poem writ- 
ten by Barlow, Trumbull, Alsop, Humphreys, and Hop- 
kins ; first published in a New Haven newspaper from 
1786 to 1793. 

XII. "A Letter addressed to the people of Piedmont 
on the advantages of the French Revolution, and the 
necessity of adopting its principles in Italy. Translated 
from the French by the author." i2mo, pp. 45. New 
York, 1793. 

XIII. "■ Letter from Paris to the citizens of the United 
States on the subject of the fallacy heretofore pursued 
by their Government relative to the commercial inter- 
course with England and France." 8vo, pp. 100. Lon- 
don, 1800. 

XIV. ''View of the Public Debt, Receipts and Expen- 



JOEL BARLOW. 



291 



A- 



ditures of the United States." 8vo, pp. 6"]. London, 
1800. 

XV. Second Letter to his fellow-citizens of the United 
States on certain political measures proposed to their 
consideration, 8vo, pp. 40. New York, 1801. 

XVL " The Columbiad," a poem. 4to, pp. 470. Por- 
trait and ten splendid steel plates. Philadelphia, 1807. 
The same with an index. Royal 8vo. London, 1809. . 

XVn. Letter to Henry Gregoire, Count of Capri and 
Member of the Institute of France, in reply to his let- 
ter on the " Columbiad." 8vo, pp. 14. Washington, 
1802. 

XVIIL " The Hasty-Pudding," a poem in three can- 
tos, written in Chambery, in Savoy, January, 1793. 8vo, 
pp. 22. 

XIX. The excellency of the British Constitution, etc., 
consisting of certain extracts from the writings of Joel 
Barlow, 8vo, pp. 8. London (no date). 

XX. " Ruins of Empire," translated from the French 
of Volney. 

XXI. Proposition for a National Academy.* 

" In private life," says one of his contemporaries, " Mr. 
Barlow was highly esteemed for his amiable temperament 
and many social excellences. His manners were gener- 
ally grave and dignified, and he possessed but little facil- 
ity for general conversation: but with his intimate friends 
he was easy and familiar, and upon topics which deeply 
interested him he conversed with much animation." 
Another writer thus refers to his domestic relations : 

" The affection of Mr. Barlow for his lovely wife was 
unusually strong, and on her part it was fully recipro- 
cated. She cheerfully in early life cast in her lot with 
his ' for better or for worse '—and sometimes the worse, 
so far as their pecuniary prospects were concerned, 
seemed to be in the ascendant. In their darkest days — 

* Dates as given do not in all cases refer to the first edition. 



292 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and some of them were very dark — Barlow ever found 
light and encouragement at home in the smiles, sym- 
pathy, and counsel of his prudent, faithful wife. No 
matter how black and portentous the cloud that brooded 
over them might be, she always contrived to give it a 
silver lining, and his subsequent success in life he always 
attributed more to her influence over him than to any- 
thing else." The above was written without knowledge 
of the letters to his wife which have been spread, many 
of them, before the reader. In point of fact the mutual 
love, trust, and confidence between the happily mated 
pair has not been strongly enough stated. " Never did 
two souls love as we have loved," the husband wrote at 
forty-five ; indeed, the fervor and devotion seen in their 
letters has not been equalled since those of Abelard and 
Heloise, and amid all the intrigue and gallantry of the 
society in which a large part of their married life was 
spent, not a doubt or a suspicion of one another's con- 
stancy is apparent. They had a pretty custom of observ- 
ing every anniversary of their wedding day ; and the 
husband further commemorated it by anniversary verses. 
Four only of these little tributes have been preserved, 
but they will serve to show the character of the rest. 
The first was written at Chambery, Jan. 26, 1793, and is 
as follows : 

" Blest Hymen, hail that memorable day 

Whose twelfth return my constant bosom warms. 
Whose morning rose with promised pleasure gay, 

Whose faithful evening gave me Delia's charms — 
Those charms that still, with ever new delight. 

Assuage and feed the flames of young desire. 
Whose magic powers can temper and unite 

The husband's friendship with the lover's fire. 

" Say, gentle god, if e'er thy torch before 
Illum'ed the altar for so pure a pair ? 
If e'er approached thy consecrated bower 
A swain so grateful, so divine a fair ? 

" Love, the delusive Power who often flies 
Submissive souls that yield to thy decree, 



JOEL BARLOW. 203 

Charmed with our lasting flame, approves the ties, 

Folds his white wings, and shares his throne with thee. 

" United Sovereigns ! hear my fervent prayer, 

Extend through life your undivided sway, 

In love and union bless your suppliant pair 

With many a sweet return of this delightful day." 

Another was inscribed, '' To my wife, on the anniver- 
sary of our wedding, 26th January, 1800." 

" If nineteen years of marriage ties 
Can make me love so strong. 
Pray tell how high the flame will rise 
"When nourished twice as long. 

" For nourishment, like what you give, 
So sweet, so wholesome too, 
Will bid the torch forever live, 
And live alone for you." 



In 1 801 



" My foolish rhymes on wedding days 
I thought would make you vain. 
Or Love would sicken of his lays 
And ask them back again. 

" But little prospect now appears 
That aught our souls can sever, 
Since after Hymen's twenty years 
I love you more than ever." 



For 1802 



" If seven long years of laboring life 
Old Jacob served to gain a wife, 
She doubtless must have been the best. 
The rarest beauty of the East — 
For sure the sire of Jews had strove 
To have his pennyworth even in love. 
• But thrice seven suns have passed the line 
Since I have laboring been for mine. 
And I'm expert at bargains too — 
A Yankee blade, though not a Jew — 
Which proves, unless I judge amiss, 
My wife is thrice as good as his. 
One thing I cei-fainly can tell, 
I always love her thrice as well." 



294 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



However dignified and severe the poet may have ap- 
peared to strangers, there was a rich fund of humor and 
satire in his composition. Many passages in his letters 
might be cited in proof of this. The following is one of 
his epigrams, found among his papers : 

" The ruffian of England with equal remorse 
Cuts the head from his king and the tail from his horse ; 
The Frenchman, more polished, lets nature prevail, 
Lets the king wear his head and the horse wear his tail." 

On another occasion, while returning from England, 
Mrs. Barlow and Fulton being at Paris, he imagines the 
following poetical dialogue "between Wife and Toot." 

Wife. — Ah, Where's my dear Hubby, whom Fate, in its malice, 
Snatched away long ago. 

Toot. — Now, I'll bet he's at Calais. 

Wife. — I'll bet he's not, though. But, Tooty, my dear. 
Suppose him at Calais, when think he'll be here? 

Toot. — Be here ! let us count. This is Thursday you say, 
His passport and baggage will take the whole day .; 
Then other vexations fall in by the hundred — 
Surrounded, examined, palavered, and plundered. 
But he'll set off to-morrow, and then, I divine, 
We shall have him next Sunday between us to dine ; 
For he'll whirl along rapidly through the relays, 
Cheek by jowl with Machere, and in Parker's post-chaise. 

Wife. — All that's but a fancy. I'll bet what you dare 
He's not here on Sunday, nor is he now there. 

Toot. — I'll hold you ten guineas, and sixpence to boot. 

Wife. — Done. 

Toot. — Done, here's my hand for't. 

Hub. — I'll go halves with Toot. 

Unlike some great men, he was punctilious In small 
things. Neatness of apparel, attention to the ameni- 
ties of life he insisted upon. Withal, he was a sturdy 
Republican, with a deep hatred for everything tending to 
degrade the man, and especially for the acquisition of 
great estates with the consequent creation of a horde 
of flunkeys and dependents. His interest in the indus- 
trial progress of his country was very great ; new varieties 
of seeds, improved agricultural implements, new meth- 



JOEL BARLOW. 2Q5 

ods of farming, improved breeds of sheep and cattle, the 
newest machines in manufacturing, were topics that en- 
gaged much of his thought. In one of his first letters to 
Mrs, Madison he sends a root of the sugar beet, then un- 
known in this country. He was interested, with other 
gentlemen in Redding, in a mill for the kiln-drying of 
corn for export to the West Indies. He aided his 
brother, Aaron Barlow, in building a foundry in Weston, 
and he was interested with Alexander Wolcott in a large 
manufactory of woollen, and perhaps cotton, goods in 
Middletown, improved machinery for which he secured 
while abroad. He was also engaged with the latter 
gentleman in the importation of merino sheep into 
America. 

But no description, however skilfully done, can give 
the reader so vivid an idea of his character as does a 
letter written by him to his wife while he was absent in 
Algiers, in mortal danger from the plague, and which 
was to be delivered her only in case of his death. 

It is a unique production in its way ; some of its ex- 
pressions, coming from a youthful Benedict, might be 
deemed extravagant, but after fifteen years of married 
life were creditable to both husband and wife. The 
following is the letter : 

Algiers, Zth/uly, 1796. 
To Mrs. Barlow in Paris : 

" My dearest Life, and only Love : — I run no risk of 
alarming your extreme sensibility by writing this letter, 
since it is not my intention that it shall come into your 
hands unless and until, through some other channel, you 
shall have been informed of the event which it antici- 
pates as possible. For our happy union to be dissolved 
by death, is indeed at every moment possible ; but at this 
time there is an uncommon degree of danger that you 
may lose a life which I know you value more than you 
do your own. I say I kfiow this, because I have long 
been taught, from our perfect sympathy of affection, to 



296 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



judge your heart by mine ; and I can say solemnly and 
truly, as far as I know myself, that I have no other value 
for my own life than as a means of continuing a conjugal 
union with the best of women — the wife of my soul — my 
first, my last, my only love. 

" I have told you in my current lette-rs that the plague 
is raging with considerable violence in this place. I 
must tell you in this, if it should be your fortune to see 
it, that a pressing dutyof humanity requires me to expose 
myself more than other considerations would justify, in 
endeavoring to save as many of our unhappy citizens as 
possible from falling a sacrifice, and to embark them at 
this cruel moment for their country. 

''Though they are dying very fast, yet it is possible 
my exertions may be the means of saving a number who 
otherwise would perish. If this should be the case, and 
/ should fall instead of them, my tender, generous friend 
must not upbraid my memory by ever thinking I did too 
much. But she cannot help it — I know she cannot. 
Yet, my dearest love, give me leave, since I must antici- 
pate your affliction, to lay before you some reflections, 
which would occur to you at last, but which ought to 
strike your mind at first, to mingle with and assuage 
your first emotions of grief. 

*' You cannot judge, at your distance, of the risk I am 
taking, nor of the necessity of taking it ; and I am con- 
vinced that, were you in my place, you would do more 
than I shall do ; for your kind, intrepid spirit has more 
courage than mine, and always had. 

" Another consideration: many of these persons have 
wives at home as well as I, from whom they have been 
much longer separated, under more affecting circum- 
stances, — having been held in a merciless and despond- 
ing slavery. If their wives love them as mine does me 
(a thing I cannot believe, but have no right to deny) 
ask these lately disconsolate, and now joyous, families 
whether I have done too much ? 



JOEL BARLOW. 207 

" Since I write this as if it were the last poor demon- 
stration of my affection to my lovely friend, I have much 
to say ; and it is with difficulty that I can steal an hour 
from the fatigue of business to devote to the grateful, 
painful task. But tell me (you cannot tell me), where 
shall I begin ? where shall I end ? how shall I put an 
eternal period to a correspondence which has given me 
so much comfort ? with what expression of regret shall 
I take leave of my happiness ? with what words of ten- 
derness, of gratitude, of counsel, of consolation, shall I 
pay you for what I am robbing you of, — the husband 
whom you cherish, the friend who is all your own ? 

" But I am giving vent to more weakness than I in- 
tended. This, my dear, is a letter of business, not of love, 
and I wonder I cannot enter upon it, and keep to my 
subject. 

'' Enclosed is my last will, made in conformity to the 
one I left in the hands of Dr. Hopkins of Hartford, as 
you may remember. The greater part of our property 
now lying in Paris, I thought proper to renew this instru- 
ment, that you might enter immediately upon the settle- 
ment of your affairs, without waiting to send to America 
for the other paper. 

" You will likewise find enclosed a schedule of our prop- 
erty, debts, and demands, with explanations, as nearly 
just as I can make it from memory in the absence of my 
papers. If the French Republic is consolidated and her 
funds rise to par, or near it, as I believe they will do 
soon after the war, the effects noted in this schedule may 
amount to a capital of about $120,000, besides paying my 
debts ; — which sum, vested in the American funds, or 
mortgages equally solid, would produce something more 
than $7000 a year perpetual income. 

" If the French should fund their debt anew at one half 
its nominal value (which is possible), so that the part of 
your property now vested in those funds should diminish 
in proportion, still, taking the whole together, it will not 



2q8 life and letters of 

( 

make a difference of more than one third ; and the an- 
nual income may still be near $5000. Events unfore- 
seen by me may, however, reduce it considerably lower. 
But whatever the value may be of what I leave, it is 
bequeathed simply and wholly to you. 

" Perhaps some of my relations may think it strange 
that I have not mentioned them in this final disposition 
of my effects, especially if they should prove to be as 
considerable as I hope they may. But, my dearest love, 
I will tell you my reasons, and I hope you will approve 
them. For if I can excuse myself to you in a point in 
which your generous delicacy would be more likely to 
question the propriety of my conduct than in most 
others, I am sure my arguments will be convincing to 
those whose objections may arise from their interest. 

'■'■First. In a view of justice and equity, whatever we 
possess at this moment is a joint property between our- 
selves, and ought to remain to the survivor. When you 
gave me your blessed self you know I was destitute of 
every other possession, as of every other enjoyment. I 
was rich only in the fund of your affectionate economy, 
and the sweet consolation of your society. In our vari- 
ous struggles and disappointments, while trying to ob- 
tain a moderate competency for the quiet enjoyment of 
what we used to call the remainder of our lives, I have 
often been rendered happy by misfortunes ; for the heav- 
iest we have met with were turned into blessings by the 
opportunities they gave me to discover new virtues in 
you, who taught me how to bear them. 

" I have often told you since the year 1791, the period 
of our deepest difificulties (and even during that period), 
that I had never been so easy and contented before. 
And I have certainly been happier in you during the 
latter years of our union than I was in the former 
years ; — not that I have loved you more ardently, or 
more exclusively, for that was impossible ; but I have 
loved you better; my heart has been more full of your 



JOEL BARLOW. 299 

excellence, and less agitated with objects of ambition, 
which used to devour me too much. 

''I recall these things to your mind to convince you of 
my full belief, that the acquisition of the competency 
which we seem at last to have secured is owing more to 
your energy than my own ; I mean the energy of your 
virtues, which gave me consolation, and even happiness, 
under circumstances wherein, if I had been alone, or with 
a partner no better than myself, I should have sunk. 

"■ These fruits of our joint exertions you expected to 
enjoy with nie ; else I know you would not have wished 
for them. But if by my death you are to be deprived of 
the greater part of the comfort you expected, it would 
surely be unjust and cruel to deprive you of the remain- 
der, or any portion of it, by giving even a part of this 
property to others. It is yours in the truest sense in 
which property can be considered ; and I should have no 
right, if I were disposed, to take it from you. 

" Secondly. Of my relations, I have some thirty or forty, 
nephews and nieces and their children, the greater part 
of whom I have never seen, and from whom I have had 
no news for seven or eight years ; among them there may 
be some necessitous ones who would be proper objects 
of particular legacies, yet it would be impossible for me 
at this moment to know which they are. It was my in- 
tention, and still is, if I live to go to America, to make 
discriminations among them according to their wants, 
and to give them such relief as might be in my power, 
without waiting to do it by legacy. Now, my lovely 
wife, if this task, and the means of performing it, should 
devolve on you, I need not recommend it; our joint 
liberality would have been less extensive, and less grate- 
ful to the receivers, than yours will be alone. 

" Your own relations in the same degrees of affinity are 
few in number. I hope I need not tell you that in my 
affections I know no difference between yours and mine. 
I include them all in the same recommendation, without 



300 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



any other distinction than what may arise from their 
wants and your abihty to do them good. 

" If Colonel B and his wife (or either of them 

being left by the other) should be in a situation other- 
wise than comfortable, I wish my generous friend to rem- 
edy it so far as may be in her power. We may have 
had more powerful friends than they, but never any more 
sincere. He has the most frank and loyal spirit in the 
world ; and she is possessed of many amiable and almost 
heroic virtues^ 

" Mary , poor girl ! you know her worth, her vir- 
tues, and her talents ; and I am sure you will not fail to 
keep yourself informed of her circumstances. She has 
friends, or at least had tKem, more able than you will be 
to yield her assistance in case of need. But they may 
forsake her for reasons which, to your enlightened and 
\ benevolent mind, would rather be an additional induce- 
ment to contribute to her happiness. 

" Excuse me, my dearest life, for my being so particu- 
lar on a subject which, considering to whom it is ad- 
dressed, may appear superfluous ; but I do it rather to 
show that I agree with you in these sentiments, than to 
pretend that they originate on my part. With this view 
I must pursue them a little farther. 

" One of the principal gratifications in which I in- 
tended, and still intend to indulge myself, if I should live 
to enjoy with you the means of doing it, is to succor the 
unfortunate of every description as far as possible, — to 
encourage merit where I find it, — and try to create it 
where it does not exist. This has long been a favorite 
project with me ; but having been always destitute of the 
means of carrying it into effect to any considerable 
degree, I have not conversed with you upon it as much 
as I wish I had. Though I can say nothing that will be 
new to you on the pleasure of employing one's atten- 
tion and resources in this way, yet some useful hints 
might be given on the means of multiplying good ac- 



JOEL BARLOW. 3OI 

tions from small resources ; for I would not confine 
my pleasure to the simple duties of charity, in the beg- 
gar's sense of the word. 

"First. Much may be done by advising with poor per- 
sons, — contriving for them, — and pointing out the ob- 
jects on which they can employ their own industry. 

" Secondly. Many persons and families, in a crisis of dif- 
ficulty, might be extricated, and set up in the world, by 
little loans of money, for which they might give good se- 
curity, and refund within a year; and the same fund 
might then go to relieve a second, and a third ; and thus 
a dozen families might be set on the independent footing 
of their own industry, in the course of a dozen years, by 
the help of fifty dollars, and the owner lose nothing but 
the interest. Some judgment would be necessary in 
these operations, as well as care and attention^ in finding 
out the proper objects. How many of these are to be 
found in prisons, — thrown in and confined for years, for 
small debts, which their industry and their liberty would 
enable them to discharge in a short time ! 

" Imprisonment for debt still exists as a stain upon our 
country, as most others. France indeed has set us the 
example of abolishing it ; but I am apprehensive she will 
relapse from this, as I see she is inclined to do from many 
other good things which she began in her magnanimous 
struggle for the renovation of society. 

" Thirdly. With your benevolence, your character, and 
connections, you may put in motion a much greater fund 
of charity than you will yourself possess. It is by search- 
ing out the objects of distress, or misfortune, and recom- 
mending them to their wealthy neighbors in such a man- 
ner as to excite their attention. I have often remarked 
to you (I forget whether you agree with me in it or not) 
that there is more goodness at the bottom of the human 
heart than the world will generally allow. Men are as 
often hindered from doing a generous thing by an indo- 
lencCj either of thought or action, as by a selfish principle. 



302 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



If they knew what the action was, when and where It was 
to be done, and how to do it, their obstacles would be 
overcome. In this manner one may bring the resources 
of others into contribution, and with such a grace as to 
obtain the thanks both of the givers and receivers. 

^'■Fourthly. The example of one beneficent person, like 
yourself, in a neighborhood or a town, would go a great 
way. It would doubtless be imitated by others, extend 
far, and benefit thousands whom you might never hear of. 

" I certainly hope to escape from this place, and return 
to your beloved arms. No man has stronger induce- 
ments to wish to live than I have. I have no quarrel 
with the world ; it has used me as well as could be ex- 
pected. I have valuable friends in every country where 
I have put my foot, not excepting this abominable sink 
of wickedness, pestilence, and folly, — the city of Algiers. 
I have a pretty extensive and dear-bought knowledge of 
mankind ; a most valuable collection of books ; a pure 
and undivided taste for domestic tranquillity ; the social 
intercourse of friends ; study ; and the exercise of charity. 
I have a moderate but sufficient income ; perfect health ; 
an unimpaired constitution ; and to give the relish to all 
enjoyments, and smooth away the asperities that might 
arise from unforeseen calamities, I have the wife that my 
youth chose, and my advancing age has cherished, — the 
pattern of excellence, — the example of every virtue, — 
from whom all my joys have risen, in whom all my hopes 
are centred. 

" I will use every precaution for my safety, as well for 
your sake as mine. But if you should see me no more, 
my dearest friend, you will not forget I loved you. As 
you have valued my love, and as you believe this letter 
is written with an intention to promote your happiness 
at a time when it will be forever out of my power to con- 
tribute to it in any other way, I beg you will kindly 
receive the last advice I can give you, with which I 
am going to close our endearing intercourse. . . . Sub- 



JOEL BARLOW. 303 

mitting with patience to a destiny that is unavoidable, 
let your tenderness for me soon cease to agitate that 
lovely bosom ; banish it to the house of darkness and 
dust with the object that can no longer be benefited by 
it, and transfer your affections to some worthy person 
who shall supply my place in the relation I have borne 
to you. It is for the living, not the dead, to be rendered 
happy by the sweetness of your temper, the purity of 
your heart, your exalted sentiments, your cultivated 
spirit, your undivided love. Happy man of your choice ! 
should he know and prize the treasure of such a wife ! 
O treat her tenderly, my dear sir ; she is used to nothing 
but kindness, unbounded love and confidence. She is all 
that any reasonable man can desire. She is more than I 
have merited, or perhaps than you can merit. My re- 
signing her to your charge, though but the result of un- 
controllable necessity, is done with a degree of cheer- 
fulness, — a cheerfulness inspired by the hope that her 
happiness will be the object of your care, and the long 
continued fruit of your affection. 

" Farewell, my wife ; and though I am not used to 
subscribe my letters addressed to you, your familiarity 
with my writing having always rendered it unnecessary, 
yet it seems proper that the last characters which this 
hand shall trace for your perusal should compose the 
name of your most faithful, most affectionate, and most 

grateful husband." 

Joel Barlow. 

Here ends our record of the lite of one who was a poet, 
philosopher, patriot, and martyr. Singularly enough, we 
believe the present volume to be the only work of a histori- 
cal character in which the talents and public services of 
Joel Barlow have received recognition. In the many and 
bulky volumes devoted to American history he is almost 
entirely ignored. 

To this statement there is, however, one exception. 



204 ^^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF JOEL BARLOW. 

On page 399 of Vol. II. of McMaster's " History of the 
People of the United States," we find this passage : 

"This Barlow is memorable as the only one of our 
countrymen who has been guilty of the folly of attempt- 
ing to produce an American epic poem. But a better 
title to immortality is the infamous part he bore in en- 
ticing innocent Frenchmen to buy and settle the lands 
of the Scioto Company on the Ohio. Towards Amer- 
ica Barlow felt the same contempt which any man who 
admires poetry must feel toward the scribbler who de- 
filed the English language by writing the ' Columbiad ' ; 
and, when he heard that John Adams was chosen Presi- 
dent he poured out his thoughts on the position in a let- 
ter to Abraham Baldwin, a brother-in-law and a Member 
of Congress. The letter abounded in obscure passages, 
but the one selected by the prosecutors of Lyon con- 
tained an expression of surprise that the answer of the 
House to the President's speech of April 5, 1797, had 
not been an order to send him to a madhouse." 

In his account of the founding of Gallipolis and the 
wrongs of the French emigrants Mr. McMaster is equally 
violent and unjust. To Barlow's biographer these at- 
tacks did not seem worthy of notice, since their bitter- 
ness, and evident animus destroyed their effect. They 
are inserted here as curious instances of the survival in 
our day of the campaign literature of 1 799-1 800, and in 
proof of the proposition advanced in our preface, that it 
is simply impossible for the historian of Federal proclivi- 
ties and environment to do justice to the great leaders of 
Republicanism in America. 



INDEX. 



Adams, John, on Barlow's letter, 

i6i. 
Advice to the Privileged Orders, 89. 
Algiers, description of, 121. 
Algerine piracies, 115. 
Andre, Major, execution of, 35. 
Anarchiad, the, 51. 

B. 

Barlow, Joel, birth and parentage, 
1-3 ; early days, 4-7 ; graduates at 
Yale College, 7-8 ; chaplain in 
Continental army, 28 ; marriage, 
30 ; writes the Vision of Columbus, 
39 ; visits Philadelphia, 42 ; leaves 
army and settles at Hartford, 46 ; 
founds the American Mercury and 
studies law, 46; admitted to bar 
at Fairfield, 47 ; revises Dr. Watts' 
version of Psalms, 48 ; and helps 
with the Anarchiad, 51 ; publishes 
the Vision of Columbus, 53 ; agent 
abroad of the Scioto Land Com- 
pany, 63 ; arrives in Europe, 68 ; 
iDegins his mission in Paris, 68 ; re- 
ceived by Jefferson, 70 ; sends a 
company of emigrants to America, 
70; failure of the Scioto Company, 
72-3 ; diary in France, 73; in Eng- 
land, 75; journey through France, 
81-2 ; settles in Paris, life there, 
85-8; removes to London and 
writes Conspiracy of Kings and 
Address to the Privileged Orders, 
89 ; returns to Paris, 92 •, in Lon- 
don again, 93 ; sets out to join La- 
fayette at Metz, 94 ; fails, and re- 
turns to London, 96 ; made citizen 
of France, 97 ; goes to Savoy and 
writes Hasty-Pudding, 98-9 ; the 
poem, 99-108; returns- to Paris, 
1 10 ; joined by his wife, 1 1 1 ; Amer- 
ican correspondents, iii; Euro- 
pean, 112; accepts mission to Al- 
giers, 117; letters from, 1 19-148; 
return to Paris, 151 ; translates Vol- 1 
ney's " Ruins," 152 ; writes a letter | 



to Washington, 1 56 ; comments on 
it of John Adams and the Boston 
Centinel, 161-3 ; Barlow's reply, 
166; its effect, 174; aids Fulton 
with the steamboat, 177-203; re- 
turns to America, 204; reception, 
204-8; advocates a National Uni- 
versity, 208-9; publishes the Co- 
lumbiad, 213 ; settles at Kalorama, 
215; critics attack the Columbiad, 
218; reply to Abbe Gregoire's strict- 
ures on, 221 ; civic honors, 234 ; 
estimate of Thomas Paine, 236; 
Jefferson's letters to, 240 ; Noah 
Webster's, 244 ; letters to his 
nephew, Thomas Barlow, 252 ; ap- 
pointed Ambassador to France, 
256; instructions of Monroe, 258; 
delays at court, 269 ; Napoleon ap- 
points a conference at Wilna, 270 ; 
Barlow sets out, 273 ; letters de- 
scribing the journey, 274-7; arrives 
at Wilna, 277 ; fails to meet the 
Emperor, 279 ; return, sufferings, 
and death by the way, 280-2 ; his 
death, how received at home, 284 ; 
in France, 286 ; bibliography and 
personal details, 289. 

Baldwin, Abraham, tutor, 4; chap- 
lain, 22 ; urges chaplaincy on Bar- 
low, 24; advises concerning the 
poem, 25 ; and the chaplaincy, 28 ; 
visits Barlow, 39 ; takes attorney's 
oath, 45; senator, 63; death, 211. 

Baldwin, Ruth, parentage, 5 ; en- 
gaged to Joel Barlow, 6 ; Barlow's 
letters to, 21 ; marriage, 30; joins 
her husband in Paris, 92 ; letter 
to Mrs. Dr. Dwight, 92-93 ; to Mrs. 
Madison, 273 ; on her husband's 
death, 285; Barlow's verses to, 
292 ; death, 287. 

Buckminster, Joseph, tutor, 4 ; let- 
ters to Barlow, 9, 10. 

C. 

Carey, Matthew, printer, 63. 
Columbiad published, 213. 
Conspiracy of Kings, 89. 



3o6 



INDEX. 



Constitution, frigate, 269. 
Copley, J. S., 93. 
Craigie, Andrew, 59-60. 
Cutler, Rev. Manasseh, 56. 

D. 

Dey of Algiers, description of, 124. 
Duer, William, 57, 59, 70-72. 
Dwight, Timothy, Dr., 29, 49. 



Fulton, Robert, resides with Barlow 
in Paris, 177 ; experiments in steam 
and submarine navigation, 177- 
203 ; letter to Barlow from Eng- 
land, 209 ; on a review of the Co- 
lumbiad, 221 ; announcing success- 
ful voyage of the Clermont, 232. 

G. 

Greene, Nathaniel, Gen., references 

to, 25, 32, 35. 
Gregoire, Abbe, Barlow's reply to, 

221. 

H. 

Hasty-Pudding, poem, 99. 

Hopkins, Lemuel, Dr., 50 ; letter to 
Barlow, 112. 

Humphreys, David, Col., 28, 29 ; 
sketch of, 50 ; minister to Portu- 
gal, 115. 

J. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 70, 82, 89, 11 1 ; 
letters to Barlow, 240. 

K. 

Kalorama, description of, 216. 
Kosciusko, 199. 

L. 

Lafayette, references to, 82, 94, 185. 

Livingstone, William, interested with 
Fulton and Barlow in the steam- 
boat in Paris, 185, 190, 193, 195, 
197. 



M. 

Madison, James, 257, 285. 
Madison, James, Mrs., 273, 282. 
Meigs, Josiah, 8, 22, 218. 

N. 

Napoleon, references to, 269, 270, 

271, 279, 2S0, 284. 
New London, Barlow's description 

of. Zl- 

O. 

Ohio Land Company, 55, 63. 
P. 

Paine, Thomas, 200, 236. 
Philadelphia, Barlow's description 
of, 43- 



Sargeant, Winthrop, 58, 59, 60, 61, 

62. 
Scioto Land Company, 55 ; its failure, 

72. 

T. 

Tooke, Home, 93. 

Trumbull, John, 44, 45 ; sketch of, 

5°- 
Trumbull, John (painter), 80, 93. 

V. 

Vision of Columbus, draft, 15; pub- 
lished, 53. 
Volney, 69, 152, 272. 

W. 

Washington, 25, 39; letter to, 156. 

Webster, Noah, 8, 9 ; Barlow's letter 
to, 18, 22; letter to, on spelling 
book, 41 ; other letters, 220, 244. 

Wolcott, Oliver, 8, iii, 112. 

Wolcott, Alexander, 272. 

West, Benjamin, 93, 203. 



( r. r> "^^t 



^? 



/ 



^^^ ^''t. 



\;^' ,■- j:»M'%^>; 



./- ,>^v 



"lUx 






t^-F"-^ 





, 1 ■"^' ''V* 








o\' ^ 




.'^ 




<0 




^ . N 1 




^ ' 




L - . 






00^ 


' 


\C^ -<. 





xAN' .. 



.^ 


^, '= 




■^, 




4- 







. 1 


8 \ '/ 






^v#^ 



^^P^^ ^^^^■ 



\-:^^< 



y 



v^ > ■- ^ •'/ C 






4^^^'^^"-^' 












^^' -f'. 



<-. ,-V' 



# .'• 









,,%;■■ ^"'v^' 



^.^'''''fSks. '' -i^. 



^^ 'i'^' -' H- 



f ,-^N 



x^^^' ">. 






'^r- I- 



,Mix^^> ^r '^ ,.^5^ 



a\- 



,v^ ^ -#iu'%!s. 



."c 



% <> 



c^ <:. 



S-^ 



i..?p- C 



^^, c-^^ 



-"ii"r- 



c5 -<.'. 






1 



1 1 « . -r- 






^' * .r^i 



V^^\}^_,* ^s^^ '^. ''^V- 



ir?^ 



.0 n 



.\^ ,^\ 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1 606S 
(724) 779-2111 



'^o 



.- ^pfi 



^ oV 



.x^"^ ^>^ 



'>- v 









'</. ,^v 


• « ^ 




^^^>. 






'^^ 


, '^ ' * ^■, ■> ' 


^ d 






V-' .-:\"' 



^.^^ ,-tv .-^r^, 






^. 



VN^ 



.v^^' 



s\^- ■ -/>, 



^^^ 






'> 

xO 



.V> s ^ " " ' , 



-^. 



